In the stratification analyses by ethnicity, we found that there was a significant association between the IL-1B (-511) polymorphism and decreasing T2DM risk in the EA population under the dominant model (OR = 0.76, 95% CI [0.59–0.97], Phet = 0.218, Pz = 0.027) (Table 3 and Fig. 2A) and codominant model (OR = 0.73, 95% CI [0.54–0.99], Phet = 0.141, Pz = 0.040) (Table 3), but no association was observed under the recessive model (OR = 0.97, 95% CI [0.79–1.20], Phet = 0.589, Pz = 0.789) or homozygous model (OR = 0.80, 95% CI [0.62–1.03], Phet = 0.571, Pz = 0.081). Here, IL1B is linked to type 2 diabetes mellitus.