Abstract: Objective To investigate the prevalence and explore the related risk factors for peripheral arterial disease (PAD) among patients with type 2 diabetes so as to provide the evidence and reference to the early intervention in community. Me thods A total of 662 patients with type 2 diabetes were selected in the community from June 2014 to June 2015 in Shenzhen province. All patients were divided into two groups according to the values of ankle-brachial index. The prevalence of PAD was calculated. Univariate and logistic regression analysis was applied to explore risk factors associated with the prevalence of PAD. Re s ults 25.83% (171/662) of the diabetic patients suffered from peripheral arterial disease. Univariate analysis results found that age, education level, family history, course of disease, smoking status, physical exercise, dietary habits, body mass index, with hypertension, with hyperlipidemia, tuberculosis were all significantly associated with the prevalence of PAD (P<0.05) . Logistic regression analysis finally showed that older age, with hypertension, with dyslipidemia, long course of disease, body mass index, with family history, smoking were found to be the valuable risk factors related to PAD (P <0.05) , whereas high education level and regular physical exercise were protective factors against PAD (P <0.05) . Conclus ions Among diabetic patients in community, the prevalence of PAD was higher and there were many risk factors. We suggest that the early screening of PAD and targeted intervention should be given full attention and strengthened. Based on controlling of blood glucose, diabetic patients should not only strictly control blood pressure, but also pay attention to blood lipid regulation, control BMI and ensure smoking cessation, especially for those with advanced age, long course of disease and family history, so that we can effectively reduce the prevalence of PAD.