Growth differentiation factor (GDF)-15 belongs to a member of the transforming growth factor-β cytokine superfamily, and elevated GDF-15 concentrations are linked to increased risk of cardiovascular diseases and future adverse cardiac events in apparently healthy elderly women, acute coronary syndrome, and chronic heart failure. However, its genetic mechanisms are still unknown. We investigated whether GDF-15 -3148C>G variant (SNP, rs4808793) is associated with a predisposition to coronary artery disease (CAD) and its severity in a Chinese population. We studied 418 consecutive patients, including 192 with coronary stenosis ≥50% or previous myocardial infarction and 226 controls without documented CAD. Coronary artery disease cases and controls were genotyped for SNP rs4808793 by using the ligase detection reaction method. The three genotypes CC, CG, and GG were present in rs4808793. No differences were found in genotype distribution and allele frequencies of rs4808793 between subjects with and without CAD, or when grouped according to sex. Logistic regression did not reveal any increased risk of CAD in subjects carrying the CG, GG genotype, or G allele at rs4808793 compared with individuals carrying the CC genotype or C allele; this finding was the same when subjects were grouped by sex (all P > 0.05). Rs4808793 does not affect main anthropometric and metabolic characteristics, nor did there exists any association between rs4808793 and the severity of coronary lesions (all P > 0.05). Our data do not support an association of rs4808793 with CAD or its severity in a Chinese population.