Abstract： Objective To investigate the prevalence rate and risk factors of diabetic retinopathy (DR) in residents aged 50 and above in Binhu Area,Wuxi City.Methods Stratified cluster random sampling method was used to investigate the prevalence of DR of residents aged 50 and above from January to December 2010.Detailed medical history,general examination,visual acuity,slit lamp microscope,direct ophthalmoscopy and blood sample testing were conducted for all selected subjects.DR diagnostic criteria refer to the 2002 International DR classification criteria.Unilateral or bilateral DR was both considered as DR patients.x2 test was used for statistical analysis of risk factors,and independent risk factors were screened by SPSS 17.0 software.Results A total of 6150 residents underwent the examination with a participating rate of 91.5 ％.Seven hundred and three residents were diagnosed as with diabetes,in which 40 were unable to record the fundus condition due to opaque refractive media.Among the rest 663 diabetic patients,36 (5.4 ％) were DR patients.There were 34 non-proliferative DR (5.1 ％) and two proliferative DR (0.3％).The duration of diabetes and fasting blood-glucose were the independent risk factor of DR (r=0.008,0.009; P＜0.05).Conclusions The prevalence rate of DR is low in the residents aged 50 and above in Binhu Area,Wuxi City.The duration of diabetes and fasting blood-glucose level were confirmed as the independent risk factor of DR.