Elevated Serum Levels of Soluble TNF Receptors and Adhesion Molecules Are Associated with Diabetic Retinopathy in Patients with Type-1 Diabetes

Figure 3

Strong association of increasing protein levels with DR. Conditional logistic regression was performed on matched paired data using cases (T1D with DR) and controls (T1D without complication) matched for age, sex, and T1D duration (183 pairs). Subjects were divided into four quartiles based on individual protein levels. The odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were computed for each protein using lowest quartile as referent. Compared with subjects in the bottom quartile, subjects in the top quartile had the highest risk of DR for all eight proteins. Also, an increased trend in the risk for DR was observed from quartile-2 to quartile-4 of protein concentrations.