Introduction:

Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) have a higher prevalence of insulin resistance (IR) and metabolic syndrome (MetS) than controls.

Objective:

To evaluate IR in non-diabetic women with SLE by means of biomarkers using high-throughput metabolomic techniques.

Methods:

Cross-sectional study in patients with SLE. A metabolomic approach was employed using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with high-resolution mass spectrometry. MetS was evaluated according to NCEP-ATP III criteria.

Results:

Seventy patients with SLE were included, out of whom 45 (64.2 %) and 27 (38.5 %) had IR and MetS, respectively. Patients with IR had a higher body mass index and hypertension more often than those without IR. Chronic damage and disease activity were not related to IR. A Quantose-IR score ≥ 63 was more common in patients with MetS (81.5 vs. 53.5 %; p = 0.02). Quantose-IR score was also correlated with the number of criteria for MetS (r: 0.35; p = 0.003).

Conclusions:

In non-diabetic women with SLE, the prevalence of IR based on Quantose-IR score was 64.2 %.