Objective To observe the influence of diabetes educationon the treatment compliance and quality of life (QOL) of diabetics and to find out the influencing factors of diabetics' QOL. Methods This study applied the questionnaire of compliance and the SF-36 to make an investigation on diabetics. Ninety diabetics who participated in the course of diabetes education during the period from October 2008 to March 2009, and 205 diabetics who were seen in the first affiliated hospital of China Medical Universitybut never participated in the course of diabetes education during the period from September to October of 2008. By comparing the data with control group and using self-paired comparison, the influence of diabetes education on the treatment compliance and the QOL of diabetics was studied. The factors influencing the QOL of each dimension were analyzed by means of single or multiple regressions. Results The treatment compliance of patients was improved with the number of times that these patients participated diabetes education was increased (P<0.05). The treatment compliance of the patients in hospital who had not participated in diabetes education was improved temporarily. However, 2 weeks after these patients were discharged the treatment compliance of these patients had began to decline. The treatment compliance would be declined if patients discontinued participating education for a long time. After 24 weeks intevention, the total score of compliance of intervention group (42.44±4.10) was higher than control group (35.60±3.90), and also higher than the intervention group before intervention (34.56 ± 4.34) (all P<0.01). The scores of 5 dimensions were significantly different (P<0.05 or 0.01). Of 8 dimensions of intervention group, the scores of vitality, social functioning, role-emotional and mental health were all increased after intervention, with significant differences except for role-emotional (P<0.05). The mental health index of patients with long-term health education was increased to a certain degree. Conclusion Long-term health education plays an active role in treatment. Insisting on taking part in health education regularly can improve the quantity of mental health.