Objective To explore the risk factors of coronary artery plaque progression and the clinical indexes that could predict plaque progression. Methods The 142 patients had twice coronary artery angiographs were enrolled in this study. Quantitative coronary angiography (QCA)was performed to evaluate angiographs at baseline and follow-up. Results According to the changes of minimum lumen diameter (MLD) in twice angiographs being or not more than 0.4 mm, the patients were divided into plaque progression group (n=54) and non-plaque progression group (n=88). The incidences of myocardial infarction (MI) and diabetes were significantly higher in plaque progression group than in non-plaque progression group [27.8% vs. 5.7%, 63.0% vs. 36.4%], and the serum levels of high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP, 14.5 mg/L vs. 6.3 mg/L) and neutrophil (6.6×109/L vs. 4.3×109/L) were also significantly higher. The incidence of coronary artery plaque progression in patients with high hs-CRP level was 2.52 times higher than in patients with low hs-CRP level, and the incidence in patients with myocardial infarction was 3.98 times as much as patients without MI. Conclusions The hs-CRP and myocardial infarction were the independent risk factors for coronary artery plaque progression.