C-reactive protein and diabetic retinopathy in Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

AIM：To investigate the relationship between Creactive protein（CRP）and diabetic retinopathy（DR）in a cohort of Chinese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus（T2DM）.·METHODS：Community-based observational cohort study.There were 1131 participants recruited from November 2009 to September 2011 in Desheng community in urban Beijing.Patients diagnosed T2DM were recruited and underwent a standardized evaluation consisting of a questionnaire,ocular and anthropometric examinations and laboratory investigation.The presence and severity of DR were assessed by seven fields 30°color fundus photographs.Subjects were then classified into groups with no DR,any DR,or vision-threatening DR.CRP was analyzed from serum of study subjects.·RESULTS：A total of 1007 patients with T2DM were included for analysis,including 408（40.5%）men and 599（59.5%）women.The median CRP level was 1.5 mg/L for women and 1.1 mg/L for men（=0.004,OR 0.37,95%CI0.18-0.74）.After adjusting for possible covariates,higher levels of CRP were associated with lower prevalence of any DR（=0.02,OR 0.55,95%CI 0.35-0.89）,but not associated with vision-threatening DR（=0.62,OR 0.78,95%CI 0.28-2.14）.After stratification by sex,the inverse association between CRP and DR was found to be statistically significant in men（=0.006,OR 0.35,95%CI0.16-0.73）,but not in women（=0.58,OR 0.88,95%CI0.29-1.16）.·CONCLUSION：The data drawn from a Chinese population with T2DM suggest that increasing CRP levels may be inversely associated with development of DR.