Aim To investigate the clinical significance of the expression lever of serum midkine (MK) in patients with new-onset type 2 diabetes. Methods The survey was conducted in 78 patients with new-onset type 2 diabetes and 20 healthy subjects selected from the special care medical center of Naval General Hospital of PLA between February 2010 and April 2013. The level of serum MK ,serum insulin and high-sensitivity c-reactive protein（hs-CRP）were determined by elisa method. The insulin resistance index (IRI) was determined. Then the related data were analyzed. Results In new-onset type 2 diabetes group, the level of serum MK, hs-CRP, and IRI were significantly higher(p<0.05). In patients with new-onset type 2 diabetes, the level of serum MK positively correlated with hs-CRP, HbA1c and IRI （r＝0.434、0.415、0.449，all p <0.01） Logistic regression analysis showed : the level of serum MK, hs-CRP, HbA1c and IRI were closely associated with new-onset type 2 diabetes closely. Conclusions There were correlation between the expression lever of serum MK and insulin resistance, hs-CRP in patients with new-onset type 2 diabetes．The level of serum MK was one of the risk factors for new-onset type 2 diabetes.