Karst SG, et al. - In this analysis, researchers investigated the prevalence of central retinal atrophy in patients being treated in a clinical setting for diabetic macular edema (DME). The study sample consisted of patients with DME, concentrating on those who developed central retinal thinning after DME treatment at the Department of Ophthalmology, Medical University Vienna. Using linear regression models and ANCOVAS, the relationship between visual acuity and ocular, systemic or DME treatment factors was calculated. A total of 1,437 patients with diabetes were analyzed for 6,684 outpatient visits. During the observation period, only 4% of patients treated for DME developed central retinal thinning. On average, when they first presented with DME compared to the overall DME cohort, the atrophy patients had higher CST and lower best-corrected visual acuity and received a combination of intravitreal injections and laser for DME treatment. Central retinal atrophy could not be attributed to excessive use of anti-VEGF or other DME therapy alone intravitreally applied.