Aim To assess the relationship between body mass index(BMI) and ankle brachial index(ABI)including peripheral arterial disease(PAD). Methods A total of 1 233 participants aged older than 18 years from five different towns of Panzhihua city were surveyed for cardiovascular disease risk factors and medical examinations.At one time,ankle brachial index was measured.Data were pooled to analyze the levels of ABI and rates of PAD with different levels of BMI. Results The lowest group of ABI level was 18 kg/m~2≤BMI<20 kg/m~2 and the uppermost group was BMI≥28 kg/m~2 in men.In women,the lowest group and uppermost of ABI level were BMI<18 kg/m~2 and 24 kg/m~2≤BMI<26 kg/m~2,respectively.Mean level of ABI was higher than 0.9 among people with different levels of body mass index.The level of ABI and rate of PAD was not significantly increasing with rising BMI groups(P value for trend>0.05).The age adjusted PAD rate with BMI<24 kg/m~2,24 kg/m~2≤BMI<28 kg/m~2,BMI≥28 kg/m~2 were 10.7%,5.6%,8.6% for men and 10.8%,9.2%,13.1% for women,respectively. Conclusions No statistic association between BMI and ABI including PAD was discovered,and the mutuality is required to be more discussed in future.