Abstract INTRODUCTION: Due to a worldwide increase in the incidence of type II diabetes, it will likely continue to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality in the future. Given that usually a mean of 4-7 years has passed from the initial onset of type II diabetes until the time of diagnosis, a great number of patients have already been affected by one or more diabetic complications by the time of diagnosis. Our objective was to evaluate the prevalence of diabetic complications and risk factors in recently diagnosed type II diabetic patients in the city of Mashhad, Northeast Iran. methods: This cross-sectional prevalence study was performed between March, 2002 and September, 2002. The study group included 200 type II diabetics whose disease had been diagnosed within one year prior to the start of our study. The collected data included medical history, physical examination and clinical tests, including urinalysis (for evaluation of macroproteinuria), blood sampling (for evaluation of serum glucose and lipid levels), and electrocardiography (EKG). Several common indicators of diabetic complications were analyzed. results: Of the 200 patients studied, 66 were male and 134 were female. The mean age of the patients was 52.2 years for men and 46.8 for women at the time of diagnosis. Overall, 74.2% of the patients were shown to have been affected by one or more diabetic complications prior to diagnosis with type II diabetes. CONCLUSIONS: Formulating a new screening program may help us diagnose type II diabetes earlier and control it more effectively. This may lead to a reduction in morbidity and mortality in type II diabetes patients.     Keywords: Type II diabetes mellitus, retinopathy, neuropathy, nephropathy, macrovascular complications, body mass index.