Sepsis is a life-threatening heterogeneous syndrome due to a dysregulated immune response to infection. Studies have shown that genetic polymorphisms might have impact on the risk of sepsis. LincRNA-NR_024015, also known as testis development related 1(TDRG1), is a newly identified long non-coding RNA (lncRNA). It has been found to participate in vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) signaling in human diseases, but its relevance in the development of sepsis is still unclear. In the present study, we genotyped lncRNA TDRG1 rs8506 polymorphism in 474 patients and 678 healthy controls recruited from a southern Chinese child population using Taqman methodology. Overall, a significant association was found between rs8506 polymorphism and the risk of sepsis disease (TT vs. CC/CT: adjusted OR = 1.751, 95%CI = 1.024–2.993, P = 0.0406). In the stratified analysis, the results suggested that the carriers of TT genotypes had a significantly increased sepsis risk among the children aged 12–60 months, females, early-stage sepsis and survivors (TT vs. CC/CT: ORage = 2.413; ORfemale = 2.868; ORsepsis = 2.533; ORsurvivor = 1.822; adjusted for age and gender, P < 0.05, respectively). Our study indicated that lncRNA TDRG1 rs8506 TT genotype might contribute to the risk of sepsis in a southern Chinese child population. Future research is required to elucidate the possible immunoregulatory mechanisms of this association.