Independent of obesity, family history of type 2 diabetes mellitus (FHT2DM) is another important risk factor for developing diabetes.To establish the association among FHT2DM, risk factors for diabetes and cardiovascular disease in subjects from central Mexico.Clinical and biochemical studies were performed in 383 first-degree relatives of patients with type 2 diabetes and 270 subjects unrelated to patients with type 2 diabetes-all subjects were from the city of Puebla in central Mexico. Logistic regressions were used to assess the association between FHT2DM and metabolic parameters. Cardiovascular risk was classified by dyslipidemia and the Framingham Risk Score (FRS).FHT2DM was associated with risk factors for diabetes, such as increased fasting insulin levels (OR = 1.731, 95% CI = 1.041-2.877), decreased insulin sensitivity (OR = 1.951, 95% CI = 1.236-3.080) and pre-diabetes (OR = 1.63, 95% CI = 1.14-2.33). FHT2DH was not associated with risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as dyslipidemia (OR = 1.12, 95% CI = 0.70-1.79) and FRS (OR = 0.74, 95% CI = 0.40-1.36) when adjusted for gender, age, smoking and obesity.Diabetic risk factors, but not cardiovascular disease risk factors, are associated with a positive family history of diabetes in subjects from central Mexico, independent of the presence of obesity.