Diurnal temperature range (DTR) is an appropriate indicator for reflecting climate change. Many previous studies have examined the relationship between DTR and mortality. Cerebrovascular disease (CVD) have a higher mortality than other diseases, with mortality from CVD higher in rural areas than in urban areas. A distributed lag non-linear model (DLNM) was used to analyze the exposure-effect relationship between DTR and hospital admissions for CVD from 2018 to 2020 in the population living in rural areas of Tianshui, Gansu Province, China. We investigated the effects of extreme DTR in groups stratified according to gender and age. A U-shape relationship was observed between DTR and hospital admissions for CVD. Both high DTR (19 °C) and low DTR (3 °C) were significantly associated significantly with CVD hospital admissions. When the lag period was 0-21 days, the impact of high DTR (1.595 [95% CI 1.301-1.957]) was slightly more significant than that of a low DTR (1.579 [95% CI - 1.202 to 2.075]). The effect of DTR on CVD varied in different populations. Males and adults were more sensitive to DTR than females and elderly people. It is necessary to make preventive measures to protect vulnerable populations from the adverse effects of extreme DTR.