Natural history of diabetic retinopathy

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is essentially, but not exclusively, a microvascular disease. In the absence any interventions, the disease usually progress from mild to more severe stages in an orderly fashion.

• It can involve the peripheral retina, the macula, or both.

The classification of diabetic retinopathy is mainly based on two factors: the presence or absence of new vessels and the presence or absence of subfoveal macular oedema (2).

• Based on the presence or absence of new vessels, DR can be divided into:
  • non proliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR)
  • proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) (3).

Reference:

1. Ghanchi F; Diabetic Retinopathy Guidelines Working Group. The Royal College of Ophthalmologists' clinical guidelines for diabetic retinopathy: a summary. Eye (Lond). 2013 Feb;27(2):285-7. doi: 10.1038/eye.2012.287.
2. American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO) 2019. Preferred Practice Pattern guidelines. Diabetic retinopathy.
3. Broadbent D. Diabetic retinopathy: Fundamentals for primary care. Diabetes & Primary Care 2013;Vol 15 No 4