Increased risk of type 2 diabetes in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus: A nationwide cohort study in Taiwan

Data on the risk of developing diabetes in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) are limited and have yielded mixed results. We conducted a nationwide cohort study to investigate the risk of subsequent type 2 diabetes in patients with SLE compared with matched non-SLE controls. Data were collected from the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database. Adult patients newly diagnosed with SLE between 2003 to 2010 were identified as the study cohort. The non-SLE group was matched for age, gender, and date of initial diagnosis as the comparison cohort. A total of 6159 SLE patients (87.90% female, mean age 38.79 years) were identified during this period. Of these, 206 (3.34%) developed type 2 diabetes. The 3-year incidence of type 2 diabetes was significantly higher in the SLE cohort than in the control group (130.26 vs 101.18 cases per 10,000 person-years), with an adjusted hazard ratio of 1.22 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.04–1.44), after adjusting for age, gender, underlying comorbidities, and monthly income. Stratified analyses showed that women with SLE and low-income SLE patients (monthly income < 20,000 New Taiwan Dollar) had a higher risk of type 2 diabetes than non-SLE controls, with adjusted hazard ratios of 1.21 (95% CI 1.01–1.45) and 1.36 (95% CI 1.10–1.69), respectively. Patients with newly diagnosed SLE had a 22% increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes during the 3-year follow-up period compared with matched controls.