ObjectiveTo explore the risk factors of diabetic retinopathy. MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 137 patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) from July 2012 to July 2015. According to the situation of retinopathy, the patients were divided into three groups. Forty-three patients without retinopathy were regarded as the control group, 46 non-proliferative retinopathy patients as the observation group, and 48 patients with proliferative retinopathy as the trial group. DM blood pressure, blood glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin, blood lipid, albumin creatinine ratio and other indicators were collected and analyzed, and multiple-factor non-conditional logistic regression analysis was carried out. ResultsGlycosylated hemoglobin, total cholesterol, triglyceride, low density lipoproteincholesterol, high density lipoprotein cholesterol, body mass index, postprandial 2-hour blood glucose and fasting blood glucose were not significantly different among the three groups (P ＞ 0.05) , but the duration of diabetes, vascular endothelial growth factor and urinary albumin creatinine ratio were significantly different (P ＜ 0.05) . The diabetic duration, glycosylated hemoglobin, systolic blood pressure, urinary albumin creatinine ratio and vascular endothelial growth factor were independently associated with diabetic retinopathy (P ＜ 0.05) . ConclusionThe prolonged disease course of diabetic patients, unstable status of blood glucose and blood pressure, and the increase of blood vessel growth factor and vascular endothelial growth factor can cause the development of diabetic retinopathy.