Abstract: Objective To explore the predisposing factors of idiopathic macular epiretinal membrane, and provide clinical guidance for prevention and early diagnosis of idiopathic macular epiretinal membrane. Methods Clinical data about 80 patients (80 eyes) with idiopathic macular epiretinal membrane admitted to our hospital from April 2013 to April 2014 were retrospectively analyzed. The 80 eyes with idiopathic macular epiretinal membrane were served as the observation group and the normal eyes (n=80) of the 80 patients were served as the function control group. Another 80 patients (160 eyes) without idiopathic macular epiretinal membrane who admitted to our hospital were served as the control group. Results The best corrected visual acuity of the observation group was below 1.0, 14 eyes in the function control group showed best corrected visual acuity below 1.0, and 9 eyes in the control group showed best corrected visual acuity below 1.0. The best corrected visual acuity of observation group was worse than that of function control group and control group with statistically significant differences (P< 0.05). There were no statistically significant differences in age and gender between observation group and control group (P> 0.05). There were 51 cases with diabetes and 59 cases with hyperlipidaemia in the observation group, which was more than control group with statistically significant differences (P< 0.05). Conclusion Diabetes and hyperlipidaemia are the predisposing factors of idiopathic macular epiretinal membrane.