Objective To investigate the characteristics of blood glucose and lipid metabolism in patients of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) concomitant with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).Methods 73 patients of T2DM concomitant with RA were as the research object; T2DM patients without RA were as controls.Body mass index (BMI), systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) in patients of T2DM concomitant with and without RA were measured.Serum triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), fasting blood glucose (FBG), 2 h postprandial blood glucose (PBG), C-reactive protein (CRP), glycated albumin (GA), glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) were detected; the differences of each index between 2 groups were compared ; patients of T2DM concomitant with RA were divided into abnormal ESR and normal ESR groups.Results Levels of serum TC were lower in T2DM combined with RA patients (4.3±1.0) mmol/L than that of controls (4.7±0.9) mmol/L(P<0.05); TC / HDL-C (4.0±1.0) were lower in T2DM concomitant with RA patients (4.5±1.4) than that of controls (P<0.05); LDL-C levels in patients of T2DM concomitant with RA (2.6±.7) mmol/L were significantly lower than that in controls (3.0±0.4)mmol/L (P<0.01); serum CRP and ESR were significantly higher in patients of T2DM concomitant with RA than those in controls 14.54 (1.62,17.95) mg/L vs 2.13(0.83,4.77) mg/L and (38±22) vs (16±11) mm/1h, respectively (all P<0.01); BMI,SBP and DBP in patients of T2DM concomitant with and without RA did not show any differences; TG,FBG,PBG,GA and HbA1c did not show significant differences between 2 groups.In patients of T2DM concomitant with RA, TC / HDL-C were significantly higher in abnormal ESR group (4.2±1.0) mmol/L than that in normal ESR group (3.7±0.8) mmol/L (P<0.05); GA levels were higher in abnormal ESR group (28±11) % than that in normal ESR group (18±5) % (P<0.05); CRP level was significantly higher in abnormal ESR group 15.52 (6.47,28.67) mg/L than that in normal ESR group 3.14(1.17,6.18) mg/L(P<0.01); FBG, PBG and HbA1c did not show any differences between 2 groups.Conclusion The levels of lipids metabolism in patients of T2DM concomitant with RA were significantly lower than those in patients of T2DM without RA; the lipids metabolism disorders may be caused by RA itself.Elevated activity of RA disease may increase the level of inflammatory response and disorders of blood glucose and lipids metabolism, which may further aggravate the risk of cardiovascular disease in patients with T2DM.□