Abstract: Objective　To investigate the correlation of type 2 diabetes mellitus（T2DM）with homeostasis model assessment（HOMA），serum iron（Fe） and ferritin（Ferr）levels. Methods　A total of 79 patients with T2DM and 50 healthy subjects（control group）were enrolled，and the levels of Fe and fasting insulin（FINS），C-peptide（C-p），glycated albumin（GA），Ferr，fasting plasma glucose（FPG），glycosylated hemoglobin（HbA1C），homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance（HOMA-IR）index and homeostasis model assessment-pancreatic islet beta cell function（HOMA- β） index were determined and analyzed statistically.The Spearman correlation analysis was performed. Results　Fe and Ferr levels in males were significantly higher than those in females in the control group（P<0.05）.The FINS，GA，Ferr，FPG，HbA1C and HOMA-IR levels in the T2DM group were significantly higher than those in the control group，and HOMA- β indices were significantly lower than those in the control group （P<0.05）.The level of Ferr was positively correlated to GA，FPG，HbA1C and HOMA-IR[correlation coefficients（r）were 0.328，0.333，0.315（P<0.01）and 0.196（P＜0.05）].The level of Ferr was negatively correlated with HOMA-β indices（r=－0.246，P<0.01）.The level of Fe had no significant correlation with HOMA-IR and HOMA- β indices（r=－0.049 and 0.039，P>0.05）. Conclusions　When the Ferr level increases，the insulin resistance degree increases，and the sensitivity of beta cell insulin secretion decreases in the patients with T2DM.

Key words: Iron, Ferritin, Serum, Homeostasis model assessment, Type 2 diabetes mellitus