AIM: To assess the efficacy differences of probucol and atorvastatin for the treatment of diabetic macular edema.

METHODS: By searching the RCT, Pubmed, BMA, EMbase, ASP, The Cochrane Library, EMCC, CBM, CNKI, CECDB, CQVIP, VIP database from January 1999 to January 2014, strict appraisal and data extraction on the quality of the included studies, using Stata/SE version 12.0 software was used for statistical analysis.

RESULTS: Eight RCTS, a total of 309 patients, were included, in which 152 cases usingprobucol, 157 cases using atorvastatin. The results showed that compared with atorvastatin group, the number of macular edema patients using probucol with DME was significantly increased\〖OR=1.75, 95%CI=(1.02, 3.01)\〗, after 90d, urinary 8-hydroxy deoxyguanosine significantly decreased \; but system evaluation also showed that: the differences of the two medicines on macular hard exudates were not statistically significant \〖OR=0.80, 95%CI=(0.41, 1.57)\〗, after treatment for 30d, the content of urinary 8-hydroxy deoxyguanosine between two groups had no significant difference\.

CONCLUSION: Theprobucol can effectively restrain the production of lipid peroxidation, inhibit the foam cells deposition in the retina, thereby improving the symptoms. Compared with atorvastatin, the treatment of DME using probucol has better clinically effect.