Background: Patients with diabetes mellitus are at high risk of cardiovascular events because of abnormal lipid status. Dyslipidemia is common in diabetes mellitus and is associated with cardiovascular complications. Early diagnosis and treatment is the main cornerstone in the prevention of its multiple complications. There is scarcity of data on the magnitude and risk factors associated with dyslipidemia among diabetic patients in the Northern zone of Tanzania.Objective: The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of abnormal lipid profile levels among patients attending the diabetes clinic at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre, Moshi Tanzania.Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted from October 2012 to March 2013 involving 119 diabetic patients, who were 18 years and above from the diabetes clinic at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre, Moshi. A structured questionnaire was administered to evaluate the socio-demographic and clinical characteristics. Standard procedures were followed for measuring blood pressure, body mass index and waist circumference. Fasting blood samples were taken to measure lipid profiles and glycosylated hemoglobin. Data analysis was done by Statistical Package for Social Science version 21 statistical software and chi-squared test, and multiple logistic regression were used for data analysis and p-value of < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.Results The prevalence of dyslipidemia among diabetic patients was 83%. Among the abnormal lipid profile levels, elevated Low Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol constituted the highest single abnormality having 67.23%. Dyslipidemia was mostly seen in the females (88.9%), advanced age of 50 years and above (86.7%), poor glycemic control (glycosylated hemoglobin >7%) was 60.7% and BMI >25kg/m2 was 91.7%. The multivariate logistic regression showed that BMI was the sole determinant for the development of dyslipidemia.Conclusions: The prevalence of dyslipidemia is high. The sole determinant for diabetic dyslipidemia among our study population was increase in the body mass index. There is an urgent need for effective strategies for primary prevention of obesity, diagnosis and treatment of dyslipidemia among diabetic patients