Hepatic insulin resistance linked to greater central obesity in Korean adults with type 2 diabetes

A cross-sectional cohort study within the Korean National Diabetes Program analyzed 2,475 Korean adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Participants were categorized into tertiles based on their Hepatic Insulin Resistance Index (HIRI), calculated from oral glucose tolerance tests, and metabolic profiles were compared between groups.

The main finding was significantly greater central obesity in the high-HIRI group, with a mean waist circumference of 90.92 cm compared to 85.52 cm in the lower group (p < 0.001). The study also examined other secondary outcomes including glycemic parameters, lipid profiles, liver function markers, dietary intake, and metabolic syndrome components, but specific results for these were not reported in the provided data. Safety and tolerability data were not reported.

Key limitations stem from the study's observational, cross-sectional design, which can only show association, not establish causation between hepatic insulin resistance and metabolic traits. The population was exclusively Korean, limiting generalizability to other ethnic groups. Funding sources and conflicts of interest were not reported. For clinical practice, this evidence suggests hepatic insulin resistance may be a marker associated with adverse metabolic phenotypes, specifically central obesity, in this patient group, but it does not inform on clinical outcomes or therapeutic interventions.