Objective To explore the relationship between haemoglobin glycation index (HGI) and risk of diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Methods The clinical characteristics of 726 cases of hospitalized patients with T2DM were collected. A linear regression equation was used to calculate HGI according to the relationship between FPG and HbA1c. According to the HGI value, all the subjects were divided into low HGI group, middle HGI group and high HGI group. The clinical data were compared among the three groups and the correlation between HGI levels and the prevalence of DPN was analyzed. Results There were significant differences in age, BMI, SBP, DBP, MBP, Fasting C-peptide, FPG, HbA1c, TC and SUA among the three groups (P < 0.05). The prevalence risks of DPN were 1.773 times in high HGI group more than in low HGI group (P < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed that age (Ol ^ R = 1.011, 95% CI: 1.003, 1.019), diabetes duration (Ol ^ R = 1.091, 95% CI: 1.040, 1.145) and HGI (Ol ^ R = 1.259, 95% CI: 1.006, 1.574) were risk factors for DPN. Conclusions HGI may be used as one of the risk predictor of DPN in patients with T2DM.