Abstract: Objective To explore the correlation of erythropoietin (EPO) gene polymorphisms with diabetic retinopathy (DR) in patients with type 2 diabetic mellitus. Design Meta-analysis. Participants Literatures investigating the association between EPO gene and DR. Methods Overall review of literatures evaluating the association of EPO gene and DR published on CNKI, ISI, Pubmed, and Embase before 30th Sep. 2020. Meta-analysis was performed by Stata 12.0. Main Outcome Measures Pooled odds ratio (pooled OR), Pheterogeneity and publication bias. Results Six studies (1940 cases with DR and 2175 diabetic controls free of DR) were finally included. Meta-analysis showed no significant association of DR with rs507392, rs1617640 and rs551238 variants in EPO gene, respectively (all P>0.05). Conclusion EPO gene is not associated with DR. Further investigation would be required to consolidate the conclusion.

Key words: EPO, diabetic retinopathy, type 2 diabetes, Meta-analysis