Background Recently, it has been suggested that the serum uric acid (SUA) level decreased in diabetic patients. The aim of this study was to explore the association between SUA level and different state of glucose metabolism and glomerular filtration rate (GFR) reflected by the simplified Modification of Diet in Renal Disease (MDRD) equation and to test the hypothesis that high MDRD is one of the determinants of SUA level.Methods This cross-sectional study included 2373 subjects in Beijing who underwent a 75 g oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) for screening of diabetes. According to the states of glucose metabolism, they were divided into normal glucose tolerance, impaired glucose regulation and diabetes.Results Multiple stepwise linear regression analysis showed that adjusted by gender, SUA was positively correlated with body mass index (BMI), waist/hippo ratio, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and triglyceride, meanwhile negatively correlated with age, hemoglobin A1c, fasting insulin and MDRD. There was an increasing trend in SUA concentration and a decreasing trend in MDRD when the levels of fasting plasma glucose (FPG) increased from low to high up to the FPG level of 8.0 mmol/L; thereafter, the SUA concentration started to decrease with further increases in FPG levels, and the MDRD started to increase with further increases in FPG levels.Conclusion This study confirmed the previous finding that SUA decreased in diabetes and provided the supporting evidence that the increased MDRD might contribute to the fall of SUA.