Purpose: The presence of a microinflammatory response is one of the possible pathological mechanisms related to the development of nonarteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAAION), a common cause of optic neuropathy in old age.We tested whether individuals with NAAION harbor a heightened microinflammatory response compared to controls.
Methods: We measured the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) and high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) in NAAION patients during hospital admission and in four matched controls for each patient, retrieved from a large cohort of 20,000 apparently healthy individuals.
Results: We included 128 NAAION patients and 512 controls. No significant differences were found between patients and controls regarding the inflammatory biomarkers.
Conclusions: This is the first report showing a lack of difference in ESR and hs-CRP levels between NAAION patients and matched controls, suggesting NAAION is not associated with a heightened inflammatory response, such as the one associated with multiple atherothrombotic risk factors.
Keywords: C reactive protein; erythrocyte sedimentation rate; microinflammation; non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy; optic neuropathy.