Abstract: Objective To explore the risk factors of type 2 diabetes mellitus(T2DM) among middle and elder age rural residents.Methods From 4 villages of Sichuan province,66 diagnosed T2DM cases aged 40 years or older and 132 healthy residents of same gender and age were randomly selected for the 1:2 matched case-control study.The subjects were measured for height,weight,waist circumference,hip circumference,blood pressure,and blood glucose.Logistic regression was used to evaluate the risk factors of T2DM.Results The central obesity (odds ratioOR=8.477,95% confidence intervalCI:3.214-22.355),family history of diabetes mellitus(OR=12.886,95% CI:4.885-33.885),and hypertension (OR=8.563,95%CI:4.134-17.741) were major risk factors for T2DM.Conclusion T2DM is an important public health problem among middle and elder age rural residents and effective measures should be taken to prevent the disease.