Correlation Between C-Reactive Protein and Lipid Analytes in Dry Age-Related Macular Degeneration: A Retrospective Study

TL;DR

This study found that higher C-reactive protein and triglyceride levels are linked to dry age-related macular degeneration, suggesting a potential role for inflammation in the disease.

Contribution

The study identifies significant associations between CRP, triglycerides, and dry AMD, and reveals a novel negative correlation between CRP and HDL in AMD patients.

Findings

CRP levels were significantly higher in dry AMD patients compared to controls.

A significant negative correlation was found between CRP and HDL levels in dry AMD patients.

Triglyceride levels showed significant differences between AMD cases and controls after adjusting for age and sex.

Abstract

Introduction: To date few studies have investigated the correlation between inflammatory markers and lipoproteins in the serum of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) patients, often reporting conflicting findings. This study aimed to investigate the correlation between lipid analytes and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels in individuals diagnosed with dry AMD.

Methods: A standard clinical lipid panel (total cholesterol, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein [HDL], and low-density lipoproteins) and CRP laboratory results were retrospectively collected from the medical records of patients with dry AMD and age- and sex-matched controls.

Results: The study included 90 patients with dry AMD and 270 patients without AMD. In univariate analysis, CRP showed a higher mean value in cases than in controls. After adjusting for age and sex, CRP and triglyceride levels showed significant differences between cases and controls. Pearson’s correlation analysis revealed a significant negative correlation between CRP and HDL levels in the dry AMD group (n=90). Other lipid analytes showed no significant correlations with CRP.

Conclusion: Our findings add to the growing body of evidence linking inflammation to AMD. Although it is unclear whether changes in serum CRP and triglyceride levels are the causes or effects, monitoring both analytes may be beneficial as an early disease predictor, especially in individuals with a family history of AMD. The negative correlation between CRP and HDL (i.e., inflammation and good cholesterol) may be targeted for future therapies.