ObjectiveTo analyze the effect of type 2 diabetes (T2DM) on the short-term prognosis of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after resection surgery.MethodsClinical data of 207 NSCLC patients who underwent resection surgery in our hospital from January 2016 to January 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. The 100 NSCLC patients with T2DM were allocated to a T2DM group (58 males and 42 females, with an average age of 65.26±7.26 years), and 107 patients without T2DM were allocated to a non-T2DM group (66 males and 41 females, with an average age of 64.21±7.51 years). The short-term prognosis of the patients was compared between the two groups.ResultsCompared with the non-T2DM group, the postoperative atelectasis (P=0.012) and pulmonary infection (P=0.040) were statistically different in the T2DM group. The postoperative complication rate in the T2DM group was significantly higher than that in the non-T2DM group (66.0% vs. 33.6%, P<0.001). The postoperative hospitalization time in the T2DM group was longer than that in the non-T2DM group (9.83±6.35 d vs. 8.09±4.40 d, P=0.007).ConclusionT2DM will increase the incidence of postoperative complications, prolong the length of hospital stay and increase the economic burden of the NSCLC patients, which is not conducive to the postoperative prognosis of patients.