Serum and aqueous concentrations of inflammatory markers in diabetic macular edema

Purpose: To investigate the relationship between the serum and aqueous levels of inflammatory markers and diabetic macular edema (DME).Methods: The study included four patient groups: the healthy control group (n=23 eyes); the diabetic control group (n=22 eyes); the groups with and without DME (n=20 eyes and n=22 eyes, respectively). The patients were evaluated based on their serum levels of HbA(1c), C-reactive protein (CRP) and serum and aqueous levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-).Results: Statistically significant differences were present for the serum CRP levels and for the aqueous TNF- levels between the healthy control group and the group with DME (p=0.004 and p=0.03, respectively); for the serum TNF- levels between the healthy control group and the groups without and with DME (p=0.009 and p=0.001, respectively).Conclusions: Increased serum levels of CRP and serum and aqueous levels of TNF- in DME suggest that inflammation is involved in the pathogenesis of DME.