Background Patients with coronary artery disease(CAD) complicated with diabetes mellitus(DM) have a reduced quality of life(QOL) partly due to their limited range of physical activity and independence. The primary objective of this study was to examine the effect of the application of the multiple nursing cares on QOL and depressive symptoms in individuals with CAD complicated with DM. Methods A total of 82 CAD complicated with DM patients in Guangdong General Hospital from January 2014 to January 2015 were selected, and randomly divided into control group(n = 41) and experimental group(n = 41) according to World Health Organization DM diagnosis criteria. The subjects in control group received routine nursing care, and the subjects in experimental group were treated with the multiple nursing cares additionally for a 10-week period. The outcome measures include the Short Form-36 Health Survey(SF-36), and Self-Rating Anxiety Scale(SAS). Results Following10-week intervention, the QOL scores and SAS anxiety scores in all groups were improved(P < 0.05). In addition, QOL and SAS anxiety scores in the experimental group were significantly improved(P < 0.05), when compare with the control group. Conclusions Based on the results of this study, the application of the multiple nursing cares to individuals with CAD complicated with DM is effective in increasing selected aspects of a general QOL and improving the anxiety situation in individuals with CAD complicated with DM. It is worthwhile to be widely used in clinical practice. Background Patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) complicated with diabetes mellitus (DM) have a reduced quality of life (QOL) partly due to their limited range of physical activity and independence. The primary objective of this study was to examine the effect of the application of the multiple nursing cares on QOL and depressive symptoms in individuals with CAD complicated with DM. Methods A total of 82 CAD complicated with DM patients in Guangdong General Hospital from January 2014 to January 2015 were selected, and randomly divided into control group (n = 41) and experimental group (n = 41) according to World Health Organization received routine nursing care, and the subjects in experimental group were treated with the multiple nursing cares for a 10-week period . The outcome measures include the Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36), and Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS). Results Following 10-week intervention, the QOL scor es and SAS anxiety scores in all groups were improved (P <0.05). In addition, QOL and SAS anxiety scores in the experimental group were significantly improved (P <0.05), when compare with the control group. this study, the application of the multiple complicated cares to individuals with CAD complicated with DM is effective in increasing selected aspects of a general QOL and improving the anxiety situation in individuals with CAD complicated with DM. It is worthwhile to be widely used in clinical practice .