Objective: To investigate how VEGF-634G/C and VEGF-460C/T SNPs are related to diabetic retinopathy (DR) in Han Chinese subjects from the Shijiazhuang region of China. Methods: Totally 376 DM cases were divided into non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR) group (n = 124), proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) group (n = 108), and diabetes without retinopathy (DWR) group (n = 144). PCR/LDR was utilised to detect and assess the genotypes and allele distribution frequencies at the VEGF-634G/C and VEGF-460C/T loci in each group. Results: The differences between NPDR, PDR and DWR groups were not significant in genotypes and allele distribution frequencies at VEGF-634G/C locus (P > 0.05). But there were significant differences between NPDR and DWR groups in genotypes (P = 0.013) and allele distribution frequencies (P = 0.002) at VEGF-460C/T locus, at which CT + CC genotypes were associated with a reduced risk of developing NPDR. There were no significant differences in genotypes (P = 0.759) or allele distribution frequencies (P = 0.433) at VEGF-460C/T locus between PDR and DWR groups. Conclusions: Among Chinese Han individuals with type-2 DM, polymorphism-634G/C of the VEGF gene was not correlated with NPDR or PDR; however, polymorphism-460C/T of the VEGF gene was correlated with NPDR, and C allele was associated with lower NPDR risk than T allele. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.