Study of acute phase reactants in diabetic retinopathy

ABSTRACT

This work included thirty patients with diabetes and fifteen normal control subjects. The diabetic group was divided into two subgroups according to the presence or absence of diabetic retinopathy, each subgroup comprised fifteen patients. For all subjects the following were done; history and clinical examination, measurement of the following acute phase reactants alpha -1 -antitrypsin, alpha-2-macroglobulin, haptoglobin and C-reactive protein. This study revealed that acute phase reactants are significantly higher in diabetic patients compared to control subjects [P<0.005] and significantly high in diabetics with retinopathy compared to diabetics without retinopathy [P<0.05]. We conclude that these changes are the result of hormonal imbalance in diabetics and are not related to the development of microangiopathy