Insulin resistance in women's health: why it matters and how to identify it.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the significance of insulin resistance in women's health and review methods for diagnosing it.


RESULTS
Clinical phenotypes in conjunction with standard clinical biochemical assays, that is, the metabolic syndrome, remain the key method to diagnose insulin resistance in clinical practice. Candidate alleles from type 2 diabetes offer little predictive value for cardiovascular events beyond traditional risk factors. Simple environmental factors such as irregular meal frequency appear to increase the risk of the metabolic syndrome and require greater scrutiny. Pregnancy complications, particularly gestational diabetes and preeclampsia in the mother and preterm birth in the fetus are events that suggest elevated risk for future cardiovascular morbidity in those affected.


CONCLUSIONS
Clinical phenotypes of insulin resistance identify women at risk for perinatal and reproductive complications.
Legro
Richard S
RS
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, M.S. Hershey Medical Center, 500 University Drive, H103, Hershey, PA 17033, USA. RSL1@psu.edu
D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D016640:Diabetes, Gestational / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007333:Insulin Resistance; D024821:Metabolic Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D009765:Obesity / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis; D018743:Perinatal Care; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000175:diagnosis; D011247:Pregnancy; D012098:Reproduction / Q000502:physiology*; D012307:Risk Factors; D016387:Women's Health