Abstract: Objective　To investigate the correlation of serum free fatty acid (FFA) levels in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM) with the parameters of glucose metabolism and insulin resistance，and study the risk factors of T2DM.  Methods　A total of 105 patients with T2DM and 66 healthy controls (normal control group) were screened and classified into 2 groups by oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). The plasma glucose (PG)，serum insulin (Ins) and fasting serum FFA were measured. The HOMA-insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR) and HOMA-insulin secretion index (HOMA-IS) were calculated. The correlations of serum FFA with sex，age，weight，body mass index(BMI)，0-3 h PG and Ins，HOMA-IR and HOMA-IS were analyzed. Logistic regression analysis was used with sex，age，weight，BMI，HOMA-IR，HOMA-IS and FFA to define the independent risk factors of T2DM，and variance Y was according to T2DM group=1 and normal control group=0.  Results　HOMA-IR，HOMA-IS and fasting serum FFA had significant difference between T2DM group and normal control group (P<0.01，P<0.001). The correlation analysis showed that fasting serum FFA level was positively correlated with 0 h PG，0.5 h PG，1 h PG，2 h PG，3 h PG，3 h Ins and HOMA-IR (r=0.340，0.281，0.282，0.307，0.302，0.193 and 0.225，P<0.05). The Logistic regression analysis showed that fasting serum FFA level was the important risk factor of T2DM[odd ratio (OR)= 14.05，95% confidence interval (CI): 1.87-105.55].  Conclusions　The increasing of fasting serum FFA level may be related to glucose homeostasis，insulin resistance and T2DM development.

Key words: Free fatty acid, Type 2 diabetes mellitus, Insulin resistance