Fig. 3

The CERT-1 score stratifies the 582 study participants into distinct risk groups and is correlated with cardiometabolic disease risk factors. The risk stratification analysis of the entire cohort (n = 582) using the ceramide-based risk score CERT-1 revealed that most of the study population, comprising two-thirds (72.5%), falls into the low to moderate risk category. A notable proportion, 18.2%, exhibits a relatively increased risk, while 9.3% are identified as being at a higher risk of developing cardiometabolic disease (A). Spearman’s rank correlation analysis detected a statistically significant yet mild to moderate positive correlation (ρ = 0.1–0.3, p < 0.01) between CERT-1 scores and traditional cardiometabolic biomarkers (B). TNF-alpha, Tumor necrosis factor-alpha; IL-6, Interleukin-6; LDL, low-density lipoprotein; HDL, high-density lipoprotein; hsCRP, high-sensitivity C reactive protein; BMI, Body mass index