Evaluation of systemic inflammatory markers in retinal venous occlusions

PURPOSE: The objective of the study was to evaluate the potential role of systemic inflammatory indices in distinguishing patients with retinal vein occlusion (RVO) from healthy individuals.
METHODS: This retrospective study included 75 patients diagnosed with RVO and 80 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. Complete blood counts were analyzed to calculate systemic inflammation indices, including the neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), systemic immune-inflammation index (SII), systemic inflammatory response index (SIRI), systemic inflammation modulation index (SIMI), and aggregate index of systemic inflammation (AISI). Group comparisons were performed, and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to assess the diagnostic value of each marker.
RESULTS: Significant differences were observed between RVO patients and controls across all inflammatory indices. Notably, NLR (2.22 vs. 1.86), PLR (130.9 vs. 113.3), SII (485.3 vs. 440.3), SIRI (1.13 vs. 0.91), SIMI (65.48 vs. 56.00), and AISI (282.33 vs. 215.94) were all elevated in the RVO group (p<0.05). However, ROC analysis revealed only limited discriminative power, with AUC values ranging from 0.602 to 0.640 and sensitivities/specificities around 55–61%.
CONCLUSION: Systemic inflammation-based indices were significantly elevated in patients with RVO compared with healthy controls. Although these markers demonstrated limited discriminative performance, their consistent elevation may reflect the presence of systemic inflammatory activity associated with RVO. To the best of our knowledge, this study is among the first to evaluate SIMI and AISI in this context. Further prospective studies are needed to better clarify their clinical relevance and potential role in the inflammatory background of RVO.

Keywords: Diagnostics, Inflammatory markers, Retinal venous occlusion