Objective To investigate the clinical features of patients with disturbance of consciousness caused by hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy and the influencing factors for recovery of consciousness.Methods A retrospective analysis was performed for the clinical data of 46 patients with chronic disturbance of consciousness caused by hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy who were admitted to First Department of Neurological Rehabilitation in General Hospital of Southern Theatre Command from October 2013 to October 2018. A binary logistic regression analysis was used to investigate the influencing factors for recovery of consciousness.Results The univariate analysis showed that duration of vegetative state (P<0.001), time from onset to neurological rehabilitation (P=0.001), coma recovery scale revised (CRS-R) score (P=0.016), sex (P=0.034), paroxysmal sympathetic hyperactivity (P=0.016), somatosensory evoked potential (P=0.002), and electroencephalography findings (P=0.003) were associated with recovery of consciousness. The logistic regression analysis showed that duration of vegetative state (odds ratio[OR]=1.077, 95% confidence interval[CI]:1.009-1.148,P=0.025) and paroxysmal sympathetic hyperactivity(OR=15.511,95%CI:1.210-198.833,P=0.035) were independent influencing factors for recovery of consciousness.Conclusions A long duration of vegetative state and paroxysmal sympathetic hyperactivity are clinical factors that affect the recovery of consciousness in patients with chronic disturbance of consciousness caused by hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy.