Background: Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is an incretin hormone that facilitates insulin secretion and preserves β cell function. hypertriglyceridemia plays an important role in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance and T2DM. The purpose of this study was to measure fasting active GLP-1 levels in hypertriglyceridemia subjects and analyse the relationship between GLP-1 and insulin resistance. Methods: We recruited 146 subjects including 38 diabetes patients with hypertriglyceridemia, 33 diabetes patients without hypertriglyceridemia, 35 hypertriglyceridemia subjects, and 40 healthy subjects as the normal control group. Serum fasting active GLP-1 was tested with ELISA in the four groups, and associations with insulin resistance were analysed. Results: Serum fasting active GLP-1 levels were significantly increased in hypertriglyceridemia subjects with or without T2DM compared with healthy controls, particularly hypertriglyceridemia patients with T2DM (p < 0.01). GLP-1 levels positively correlated with triglyceride (TG) levels, fasting insulin (FINS) levels, and HOMA-IR (p < 0.01). Furthermore, multiple stepwise regression showed that TG levels and HOMA-IR were independently associated with fasting active GLP-1 levels (p < 0.01). Conclusions: Hypertriglyceridemia was associated with elevated fasting active GLP-1 levels, and a significant association was noted between GLP-1 and HOMA-IR. This finding provides evidence that the increase in GLP-1 may play a compensatory role in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance induced by hypertriglyceridemia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]