Factors associated with the duration of action of dexamethasone intravitreal implants in diabetic macular edema patients

We designed this study to determine the association between the duration of action of intravitreal dexamethasone implants and aqueous humor biomarkers or optical coherence tomography (OCT) findings of diabetic macular edema (DME) patients. We measured the concentrations of interleukin (IL)-1β, -8, -10, -17; placental growth factor; and vascular endothelial growth factor in the aqueous humor, and identified the number of hyperreflective foci (HF), grades of ellipsoid zone disruptions, and baseline central subfield thicknesses (CSTs) using OCT of patients with DME. The average duration of action of dexamethasone implants was 4.32 ± 1.18 months. In multivariate linear regression analyses, the duration of action was associated with aqueous IL-8 levels and the number of HF (β = −0.016, p = 0.037 and β = −0.073, p = 0.035, respectively). Multivariate logistic regression showed that the number of HF (>10) was significantly associated with a shorter duration (<4 months) of action (odds ratio: 17.17, p = 0.010). The duration of action of intravitreal dexamethasone implants in DME patients was associated with the level of aqueous IL-8 and the number of HF using OCT. Specifically, higher number of HF in the OCT was associated with a shorter duration of action.