Patients with asteroid hyalosis complicating proliferative diabetic retinopathy exhibited significantly higher TyG index, SII index, cholesterol, LDL, triglycerides, and fasting blood glucose than PDR patients without AH, suggesting that abnormal lipid metabolism, inflammatory activation, and poor glycemic control are more pronounced in AH patients.
Patients with asteroid hyalosis had significantly higher cholesterol levels compared to non-AH patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy.
Low-density lipoprotein levels were significantly higher in the AH group than in the non-AH group.
Triglyceride levels were significantly elevated in AH patients compared to non-AH patients.
The TyG (triglyceride-glucose) index was significantly higher in patients with asteroid hyalosis than in those without.
The systemic immune-inflammatory (SII) index was significantly higher in AH patients than in non-AH patients.
White blood cells, monocytes, and glycosylated hemoglobin did not differ significantly between AH and non-AH groups.
The authors conclude that cerebral infarction and asteroid hyalosis share overlapping systemic pathological mechanisms.
This research suggests that a rare eye condition called asteroid hyalosis (AH) — where calcium-lipid deposits float in the gel-like fluid inside the eye — is associated with worse metabolic and inflammatory health in patients who already have advanced diabetic eye disease. Researchers compared 45 patients who had both proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) and AH against 90 PDR patients without AH, all of whom were having eye surgery at a hospital in China. They found that AH patients had notably higher cholesterol, LDL ('bad') cholesterol, triglycerides, fasting blood sugar, and a combined lipid-glucose score called the TyG index. They also had higher scores on an inflammation marker called the SII index, along with higher neutrophil and platelet counts — all signs of greater systemic (whole-body) inflammation. Interestingly, some markers did not differ between the groups — including total white blood cell counts, monocytes, and glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c, a measure of long-term blood sugar control). This suggests that the differences in AH patients may relate more to lipid handling and acute inflammatory activity than to long-term blood sugar management alone. The TyG index and SII index, which combine multiple lab values into single scores, appear to be useful tools for identifying metabolic and inflammatory risk in this population. This research suggests that asteroid hyalosis is not simply a benign, isolated eye finding but may be a sign of broader metabolic dysfunction involving fat metabolism and systemic inflammation, similar to mechanisms seen in stroke (cerebral infarction). For people with diabetes, these findings point to the potential importance of monitoring and managing lipid levels and inflammatory markers, not just blood sugar, as part of comprehensive diabetes care. However, as a cross-sectional study, this research cannot prove that these metabolic abnormalities cause AH — only that they are associated with its presence.
Wang H, Wang W, Jia P, Shi P, Liu J, Cao X. (2026). Combined TyG index and systemic inflammation indices as predictors for asteroid hyalosis: a hospital-based cross-sectional study.. Frontiers in endocrinology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2026.1804058