Objective To evaluate the correlation between the serum level of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) and early renal injury in the patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and investigate its clinical value. Methods A total of 58 patients with freshly diagnosed stable COPD in the Department of Respiratory Disease, Ningxia People’s Hospital from January to July 2012 were subjected and prospectively analyzed in this study. Another 50 sex- and age-matched healthy individuals receiving physical examination during the same period served as normal controls. The COPD patients were all at stable phase, without severe acute infection, and with no need for oxygen inhalation, and were assigned into 3 subgroups according to hypoxia degrees: subgroupⅠ(60mmHg＜PaO2≤80mmHg, 1mmHg＝0.133kPa), subgroup Ⅱ (40mmHg＜PaO2≤60mmHg), and subgroup Ⅲ (PaO2≤40mmHg). Routine renal function and laboratory markers of kidney injury were detected by EILSA, including serum creatinine (SCr), and cystatin C (CysC), HIF-1α and transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β). Estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) was calculated by chronic kidney disease epidemiology collaboration (CKD-EPI) formula. Statistical analysis was carried out to compare the differences of above indices between these groups. Results The serum levels of HIF-1α and CysC were significantly higher in the COPD group than in control group (P＜0.05), but the levels of SCr and TGF-β and eGFR were increased though without significant difference between the 2 groups (P＞0.05). Further comparison among subgroups showed that the level of HIF-1α was significantly higher in subgroups Ⅱ and Ⅲ than in the control group and subgroupⅠ(P＜0.05). The level of CysC in subgroups Ⅰ, Ⅱ and Ⅲ was significantly higher than that in the control group (P＜0.05). The eGFR was significantly lower in subgroup Ⅲ than in the control group (P＜0.05). There was no significant difference in the serum levels of SCr and TGF-β among the 3 subgroups of COPD patients compared with the control group (P＞0.05). Pearson analysis showed that the serum level of HIF-1α had positive correlation with CysC (r＝0.665, P＝0.001), and those of CysC and HIF-1α had negative correlation with eGFR (r＝-0.827, r＝-0.739, P＜0.001). Conclusion Serum HIF-1α might be a good predictive biomarker for early renal injury in chronic hypoxia patients, and it might have better clinical value when combined with serum level of CysC.