Objective To analyze the characteristics of epidemics of hand-foot-mouth disease(HFMD) in schools in Yixing city,and to provide a scientific basis for the prevention and control strategies. Methods According to the China's Disease Prevention and Control Information System from 2015 to 2018,the monitoring data of the cluster epidemic or outbreak of HFMD in schools in Yixing City were collected.The epidemic characteristics and pathogens were described.Pearson correlation analysis,analysis of variance and rank sum test were used for statistical analysis. Results There were 339 epidemics of HFMD in schools in Yixing city from 2015 to 2018,including 335 clustered epidemics and 4 outbreaks.319 epidemics occurred in kindergartens,280 epidemics occurred in May to June and September to December.There were statistically significant differences in the number (T=85.50,P=0.005) and the frequency (T=86.00,P=0.005) of epidemics between the urban area (including its adjacent towns) and the peripheral towns.There were statistically significant differences in the number (t=8.447,P<0.001) and frequency (t=8.634,P<0.001) of epidemics between primary schools and kindergartens.There was statistically significant difference in the number of epidemics among different levels of kindergartens (F=5.225,P=0.002).There were statistically significant differences in the number of cases (H=216.34,P＜0.001),duration (H=119.57,P＜0.001) and progression rate (H=14.16,P=0.001) among different types of the epidemics.There was statistically significant difference in the constituent ratios of pathogens which caused the epidemics in different years (P＜0.001). Conclusion The urban area and its adjacent towns and kindergartens are high-risk areas and places of epidemics of HFMD in Yixing,the epidemic situation in even years is higher than that in odd years,so the prevention and control of epidemic situation in key areas and places should be strengthened.