Background: Chronic hyperglycemia may lead to long-term damage in the form of microvascular and macrovascular. The longer a person suffers from diabetes mellitus, the longer the exposure of hyperglycemia occurs in the retina’s blood vessels. It impairs vascular stability and results in damaged vascular endothelial cells in the retina and those leadng to diabetic retinopathy. This study aims to determine the relationship between the duration of diabetes mellitus incidence and the occurrence of diabetic retinopathy. Method: The study used an analytic observational method with cross sectional study design. The sample used were divided into two groups, each of consider of sufferers of DM less than 5 years and those more than 5 years. This study was conducted at AMC Yogyakarta Clinic and PKU Muhammadiyah Gamping Yogyakarta Hospital from January 2014 to December 2017. Data analysis was done by using Chi - Square test. Result: the sample used were 55 pairs of eye with a significant value of p = 0,016 indicating a correlation between the duration of diabetes mellitus and the incident of diabetic retinopathy. The result of the OR = 0.171 (95% CI: (0.035-0.831)) denoting that a person who suffers DM less than 5 years has a 0.171 times lower risk than that who suffers DM more than 5 years. Conclusion: The results of this study demontrated there was a correlation between the duration of diabetes mellitus and the incidence of diabetic retinopathy.