CRP and diabetes mellitus: In the Diabetes Control and Complications Trial (DCCT) cohort of type 1 diabetics, higher baseline hs-CRP predicted the development of clinically significant ME (a vision-threatening DR complication).24 This supports the idea that systemic inflammation markers could forecast retinal outcomes.25 However, CRP is a very non-specific marker of inflammation; it rises with infection, other vascular diseases, obesity, and metabolic syndrome.