Details of primers used in the present study.

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a leading cause of vision loss in individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and is influenced by genetic factors. We investigated the association between the erythropoietin (EPO) gene polymorphism (rs1617640 C > T/G) and DR risk in a Punjabi Pakistani cohort of adults with T2DM. In a case–control design, 573 T2DM patients (294 with DR, 279 controls without retinopathy, CDR) were genotyped by ARMS-PCR. The protective CC genotype was significantly more frequent in controls (96.77%) than in cases (30.61%) and was associated with markedly reduced DR risk (OR = 68; 95% CI 33.468–138.162; p