Introduction
visual loss, Diabetic retinopathy, diabetes
COMPLICATION, DIABETIC RETINOPATHY, DIABETES
Diabetic retinopathy (DR), a complication of diabetes, is a major cause of visual loss globally.However, DR screening faces a scaling challenge as the number of patients with diabetes rises.Of those with diabetes, 75% are in low-to-middle income countries, and the burden of diabetes and its related conditions disproportionately affects these populations.These challenges may be addressed by optimizing screening intervals personalized to a patient's risk of DR progression, potentially improving program efficiency and vision-related outcomes while also reducing cost. In recent times, deep learning (DL) systems have been applied to automated computational grading of fundus photos for DR assessment, and many have shown expert-level accuracy.In the present study, we conducted a prospective evaluation of the clinical usefulness of the aforementioned DR progression model to prioritize patients according to their risk of progression based on prior CFPs. This study was conducted in Thailand during the COVID-19 pandemic, which significantly impacted the country's national DR screening program—a program that serves an estimated 4.5 million patients with diabetes.