The purpose of our study was to investigate the relationship between the <i>SIRT1</i> rs7069102 polymorphism and <i>TNF</i>- α rs1800629 polymorphisms and diabetic retinopathy (DR) in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).<h4>Materials and methods</h4>We analyzed 1554 Slovenian (Caucasian) patients with T2DM of at least 10 years' duration, stratifying them into two groups: 577 patients with diabetic retinopathy (DR) and 977 patients without DR. The gene discussed is SIRT1; the disease is diabetic retinopathy.