Objective To analyze the risk factors for renal function deterioration in patients with lupus nephritis. Methods Clinical data of patients with lupus nephritis admitted to the Third and the First Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical College from June 2013 to June 2015 were reviewed and retrospectively analyzed. Of them ,62 lupus nephritis patients with the rapid deterioration of renal function were selected as an observation group ,and 62 patients were selected randomly from 200 lupus nephritis patients with normal renal function and were considered as a control group.Risk factors for the rapid deterioration of renal function in patients with lupus nephritis were analyzed by univariate analysis. Furthermore ,multivariate Logistic regression analysis was used to identify the independent risk factors for the rapid deterioration of renal function in patients with lupus nephritis. Results Univariate analysis revealed that infection , lupus activity , anemia , hypoproteinemia and hypertriglyceridemia were risk factors for the rapid deterioration of renal function in patients with lupus nephritis (P ＜ 0.05).Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that infection ,lupus activity and hypoproteinemia were the independent risk factors for the rapid deterioration of renal function in patients with lupus nephritis(OR=3.109 ,3.669 and 2.691 ,P=0.003 ,0.004 and 0.033 , respectively ). Conclusions Infection ,lupus activity and hypoproteinemia are the independent risk factors for the rapid deterioration of renal function in patients with lupus nephritis. Early prevention and intervention can improve clinical outcome and quality of life in lupus nephritis patients.