Objective To study the relationship between macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF)-173G/C single nucleotide polymorphism and primary cerebral hemorrhage (PICH) in Chinese Han population from Hunan Province. Methods The genotypes for the tested MIF SNPs in 162 PICH patients and 203 control subjects were detected by polymerase chain reaction-restrictive fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) and DNA sequence.Results There existed-173G/C polymorphism of MIF among Chinese Han population from Hunan Province. No significant differences were observed in genotypes and allele frequencies between PICH patients and controls for MIF-173G/C polymorphism (P>0.05). However, significantly higher frequencies of Callele and C/X genotype were confirmed in PICH patients with diabetes mellitus compared to the control subjects and patients without diabetes mellitus (P<0.05).Conclusions MIF-173G/C polymorphism is not correlated with PICH in Chinese Han people from Hunan Province. Allele G/C may not be an independent risk factor for PICH.