Objective To study the correlation between brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity （ba-PWV） and diabetic retinopathy in type 2 diabetic patients. Methods This cross-sectional investigational study included 1 000 type 2 diabetic patients who had received non-mydriatic digital fundus photography examination, questionnaire survey, physical examination, blood and urine biochemical tests, and ba-PWV measurement. And the correlation between ba-PWV and diabetic retinopathy was analyzed. Results Subjects were divided into three groups according to ba-PWV tertiles. Compared with patients in the lowest tertile, those in the second and highest tertiles had significantly higher prevalence of diabetic retinopathy （5.6%, 11.0%, and 14.2%, respectively, P for trend=0.000 4）. Multiple Logistic analysis revealed that hemoglobin AIc （HbAIc）, duration of diabetes and use of hypoglycemic drug therapy were positively correlated with prevalence of diabetic retinopathy [odds ratio （0R）=1.35, 1.07 and 2.59, all P〈0.001], while age was inversely correlated with prevalence of diabetic retinopathy （OR=0.96, β=-0.041 ,P=-0.01）. Adjusted Logistic regression analysis revealed that compared with patients in the lowest tertile of ba-PWV, those in the second and highest tertiles had 2.34-fold and 2.89- fold increase of prevalence of diabetic retinopathy, respectively. Conclusions In type 2 diabetic patients, ba-PWV is an independent risk factor of diabetic retinopathy, and has significant correlation with diabetic retinopathy. Therefore, ba- PWV might be a useful marker for evaluating the risk of diabetic retinopathy.