Objective To investigate the epidemiological characteristics of female stress urinary incontinence (SUI) in Shanghai, and explore the risk factors for clinical reference. Methods Two thousand and six hundred women aged between 28 and 89 years from 10 districts in Shanghai were selected with multi-stage sampling method, which included workers, teachers, employees, medical staffs and civil servants. A total of 2 600 questionnaires were distributed, and 2 410 valid questionnaires were recovered, with the response rate of 92.7%. The questionnaire design included age, occupation, height, weight, medical co-mobidities, number of delivery, times of abortion, quality of life scale (QOL) score and International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS). Results Of the 2 410 women, there were 288 women (11.9%) with urge urinary incontinence, 334 (13.8%) women with mixed urinary incontinence and 699 women (29.0%) with pure SUI, and 1 089 women did not have urinary incontinence. The average age of 699 women with SUI was (54.4±12) years, and that of women without SUI was (48.4±11) years (P=0.000). The average body mass index (BMI) of women with SUI was 23.2±4.0, and that of women without SUI was 22.3±3.1 (P=0.000). Four hundred and three women with SUI had metabolic syndrome, and 352 women without SUI had metabolic syndrome (χ2=111.97, P=0.000). Chronic constipation was found in 491 women with SUI, and 322 women without SUI had chronic constipation (χ2=284.07, P=0.000). Two hundred and thirteen women with SUI had chronic bronchitis, while 174 women without SUI had chronic bronchitis (χ2=52.74, P=0.000). The incidence of SUI was significantly related to the history of delivery (χ2=29.81, P=0.000), and the incidence of SUI in women with multiple delivery was significantly higher than that in women with single delivery (χ2=13.68, P=0.000). The average QOL score was 10.97, and the average IPSS was 3.76 in women with SUI, and there was significant correlation between them (P=0.000). The QOL score was significantly related to age in women with SUI (P=0.000). Conclusion SUI has become an important voiding dysfunction disorder in elder women in China, with increasingly higher incidence over years. Forty to 59 years and over 80 years are two main age periods with higher incidence. The incidence is significantly related to age. Obesity, metabolic syndrome, chronic constipation, chronic bronchitis and multiple delivery are risk factors for SUI. In patients with SUI, symptoms of lower urinary tract are important factors affecting quality of life in addition to urine leakage. Selective M receptor blockers may be useful to improve their quality of life.