Objective To systematically evaluate the risk factors of retinopathy in diabetic patients and provide a basis for effective clinical prevention and treatment of diabetic retinopathy(DR).Methods CNKI,WanFang Data,VIP,CBM,The Cochrane Library,Embase,Web of Science and PubMed were systematically searched to collect the researches on the risk factors of DR from inception of the databases to February 2023,and two researchers independently performed literature screening,data extraction,and methodological quality evaluation.A Meta-analysis was conducted by RevMan 5.4 software.Results A total of 17 articles were included,including 19 168 subjects and 15 risk factors.The results of Meta-analysis showed that diabetes duration[MD=4.98,95%CI(3.87,6.09),P<0.001],fasting blood glucose[MD=0.47,95%CI(0.35,0.59),P<0.001],two hour postprandial glucose[MD=0.91,95%CI(0.65,1.17),P<0.001],glycosylated hemoglobin[MD=1.23,95%CI(1.16,1.31),P<0.001],systolic blood pressure[MD=3.57,95%CI(1.96,5.17),P<0.001],diastolic blood pressure[MD=0.08,95%CI(0.03,0.14),P=0.004],low density lipoprotein[MD=0.93,95%CI(0.26,1.59),P=0.006],triglyceride[MD=0.12,95%CI(0.07,0.17),P<0.001],blood creatinine[MD=2.09,95%CI(0.19,3.98),P=0.030]were the risk factors for DR.Conclusion The long duration of diabetes,hyperglycemia,hypertension,dyslipidemia and increased blood creatinine were risk factors for DR.The effective prevention and treatment of diabetes,actively guiding patients to control blood glucose,blood pressure and serum creatinine levels and regulating blood lipid levels are helpful for preventing and delaying DR.