Abstract: Diabetic Nephropathy (DN) is a common cause of abnormal lipoprotein metabolism and can be influenced by impairment of renal function and metabolic control in diabetes. The aim of this study was to explore the lipid abnormalities in diabetic patients with nephropathy in comparison with diabetic patients without nephropathy. This was achieved by assaying plasma lipid fractions in diabetic patients and control. A total of 95 diabetic patients and 19 non-diabetic control subjects were used for the study. The patients were divided into 2 groups-those with diabetic nephropathy and those without diabetic nephropathy, using ACR = 30 mg g-1. Urinary albumin and creatinine were assayed by the Lowry method and the modified Jaffe method, respectively. Triglyceride was assayed by the glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase method while total cholesterol and High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol were assayed using the enzymatic end point method. Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol was determined by the Friedewald equation. Body Mass Index (BMI, kg m-2) was calculated from height and weight which were obtained from a questionnaire used to record the demographic features of all the volunteers/subject. Results obtained showed that plasma total cholesterol was significantly increased in diabetic volunteers without nephropathy (197.29±8.20, p<0.05) and in those with nephropathy (211.58±7.49, p<0.05) when compared with the control subjects (161.84±8.98, p<0.05). There were also significant increases (p<0.05) in mean plasma Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol (137.51±7.27) in diabetics without nephropathy and 149.49±6.97 in those with nephropathy and triglyceride (113.58±9.56) in diabetics without nephropathy and (123.52±6.62) in those with nephropathy when compared to the control subjects (93.95±7.53, 107.11±8.73, respectively). However, there was a significant decrease (p<0.05) in plasma High Density Lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol in diabetics without nephropathy (42.75±2.30) and those with nephropathy (37.5±3.31) when compared to the control subjects (46.47±2.42). A positive correlation was obtained between microalbuminuria (ACR = 30 mg g-1) and total cholesterol (R2=0.028, P<0.05), triglyceride (R2 = 0.123, p<0.05), low density lipoprotein cholesterol (R2 = 0.012, p<0.05) and body mass index (R2 = 0.005, p<0.05). This study showed that total cholesterol, low density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglyceride and body mass index increased with persistent albumuinuria or nephropathy amongst diabetics in Southern Nigeria.