Serum Lipid Profile, Atherogenic Indices, and Systemic Inflammatory Markers in Retinal Vein Occlusion: A Retrospective Case-Control Study.

PURPOSE: Retinal vein occlusion (RVO) is a common retinal vascular disorder associated with systemic vascular and metabolic risk factors. Although both dyslipidemia and inflammation have been implicated in its pathogenesis, the associations of conventional lipid parameters, derived atherogenic indices, and hemogram-derived inflammatory markers with RVO remain incompletely characterized.

METHODS

This retrospective, single-center, case-control study included 81 patients with RVO and 91 controls without RVO. Hospital records from January 2025 through December 2025 were reviewed. Conventional lipid parameters, derived atherogenic indices, and systemic inflammatory markers were compared between groups. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed using separate models for conventional lipid parameters, derived lipid indices, and inflammatory indices to reduce collinearity and improve interpretability.

RESULTS

Patients with RVO were older than controls and had significantly higher monocyte, neutrophil, and leukocyte counts, as well as higher C-reactive protein (CRP), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), triglyceride, total cholesterol, and non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (non-HDL-C) levels. Among the derived indices, total cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), LDL-C/HDL-C, and non-HDL-C/HDL-C ratios were significantly higher in the RVO group, whereas neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR), neutrophil-to-platelet ratio (NTR), hemoglobin-albumin-lymphocyte-platelet (HALP) score, systemic immune-inflammation index (SII), and triglyceride/HDL-C ratio were comparable between groups. In models adjusted for age, sex, and CRP, LDL-C, non-HDL-C, and total cholesterol were associated with RVO, whereas triglyceride was not. Total cholesterol/HDL-C, LDL-C/HDL-C, and non-HDL-C/HDL-C ratios were also associated with RVO in models adjusted for age, sex, and CRP, whereas triglyceride/HDL-C was not. None of the evaluated inflammatory indices was associated with RVO in models adjusted for age and sex.

CONCLUSIONS

In this dataset, several cholesterol-related variables were associated with RVO in models adjusted for age, sex, and CRP, whereas none of the evaluated hemogram-derived inflammatory indices was associated with RVO in models adjusted for age and sex. Because these variables were examined in separate models with different covariate adjustments, the findings do not establish the superiority or greater relative importance of lipid markers.