Background: Metabolic syndrome (MS) may modify the association of insulin resistance (IR) with chronic kidney disease (CKD), but the relevant studies were not enough. We evaluated whether IR is independently associated with CKD in Chinese population. Methods: The data were from 2007-2008 China National Diabetes and Metabolic Disorders Study. CKD was defined as an estimated glomerular filtration rate <60 ml/min/1.73 m(2). IR was evaluated by using the homeostatic model assessment (HOMA-IR). Results: A total of 11,143 individuals were included. Participants in the higher quartiles of HOMA-IR tended to have higher prevalence of CKD in general population (P < 0.001). However, there was no significant difference among the quartiles of HOMA-IR in population without MS (P = 0.288). In general population, the adjusted odds ratio of CKD was 1.183 (95% CI: 0.838-1.670), 1.543 (95% CI: 1.103-2.158), and 1.549 (95% CI: 1.079-2.223) in the second, third and fourth quartile of HOMA-IR relative to the lowest quartile, while the odds ratios in population without MS showed no significance in all higher quartiles. Conclusions: IR was not an independently significant predictor of CKD in Chinese population, and MS may contribute greatly to the association between IR and CKD. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.