OBJECTIVES: Gender has been shown to have an effect on health outcomes. In this study, we examined the impact of gender on diabetes glycaemic target achievement with relevance to the Malaysian population. METHODS: We took a two-pronged approach to the study. We performed an exploratory retrospective data analysis of diabetes patients in the Malaysian National Diabetes Registry (NDR) in 2012 and reviewed published literature to identify local or regional studies. RESULTS: Our retrospective analysis included 130,246 diabetes patients with a mean age of 59.78 years, mean diabetes duration of 7.03 years of whom 60.25% were females. We found that the glycaemic results were lower in men compared to women for mean HbA1c (8.04% vs 8.16%) and mean fasting blood glucose (7.97 mmol/L vs 8.15 mmol/L). Significantly more men achieved HbA1c target compared to women (29.97% vs 28.76%, P<0.001). Our literature review found 12 articles that investigated gender-related differences in glycaemic target achievement which comprised of 1 meta-analysis of trial data, 5 cohort studies and 6 cross-sectional studies. Nine studies indicated that men were more likely to achieve better glycaemic control, while 2 were equivocal and one found women had better results. To date, there have been no studies performed in Malaysia and closest studies in the region were from Nanjing and Hong Kong. The Hong Kong study indicated men achieved better glycaemic control with an opposite finding in the Nanjing study. CONCLUSIONS: Our results, from both the data analysis as well as literature review, indicate that women tend to have worse glycaemic control than men. Further research is needed to confirm our initial findings for Malaysia and to ascertain the reasons for worse glycaemic control in women. If these findings are confirmed, then steps and mechanisms to help women with diabetes achieve glycaemic targets should be pursued.