Cited by 88Retinal Imaging and AnalysisOphthalmology and Visual Health ResearchRetinal Diseases and Treatments

Diabetic Retinopathy Screening with Automated Retinal Image Analysis in a Primary Care Setting Improves Adherence to Ophthalmic Care

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Liu, James, Gibson, Ella, Ramchal, Shawn, Shankar, Vikram, Piggott, Kisha, Sychev, Yevgeniy, Li, Albert S., Rao, Prabakar K. +5 more·2021·Ophthalmology Retina

Abstract

Purpose Retinal screening examinations can prevent vision loss resulting from diabetes but are costly and highly underused. We hypothesized that artificial intelligence-assisted nonmydriatic point-of-care screening administered during primary care visits would increase the adherence to recommendations for follow-up eye care in patients with diabetes. Design Prospective cohort study. Participants Adults 18 years of age or older with a clinical diagnosis of diabetes being cared for in a metropolitan primary care practice for low-income patients. Methods All participants underwent nonmydriatic fundus photography followed by automated retinal image analysis with human supervision. Patients with positive or inconclusive screening results were referred for comprehensive ophthalmic evaluation. Adherence to referral recommendations was recorded and compared with the historical adherence rate from the same clinic. Main outcome measure Rate of adherence to eye screening recommendations. Results By automated screening, 8.3% of the 180 study participants had referable diabetic eye disease, 13.3% had vision-threatening disease, and 29.4% showed inconclusive results. The remaining 48.9% showed negative screening results, confirmed by human overread, and were not referred for follow-up ophthalmic evaluation. Overall, the automated platform showed a sensitivity of 100% (confidence interval, 92.3%-100%) in detecting an abnormal screening results, whereas its specificity was 65.7% (confidence interval, 57.0%-73.7%). Among patients referred for follow-up ophthalmic evaluation, the adherence rate was 55.4% at 1 year compared with the historical adherence rate of 18.7% (P < 0.0001, Fisher exact test). Conclusions Implementation of an automated diabetic retinopathy screening system in a primary care clinic serving a low-income metropolitan patient population improved adherence to follow-up eye care recommendations while reducing referrals for patients with low-risk features.

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  • There was marked variation in timeframes for referral among included studies, ranging from 2 weeks for Li et al. in China to 12 months for Liu et al. in the USA.

    “There was marked variation for timeframes among included studies ranging from 2 weeks for Li et al. in China18 up to 12 months for Liu et al. in the USA17.”

    From Referral uptake after diabetic retinopathy screening with artificial intelligence-assisted care pathways: a systematic review and meta-analysis (2026) · cites this paper as [17]

    The Methods (page not provided) specify referral appointments within 1 month for vision-threatening disease and within 3 months for referable disease or inconclusive results—not 12 months. The 12-month period in the Methods and Results is a window for measuring attendance after referral, not a recommended referral timeframe. This verdict concerns only the timeframe attributed to Liu et al.; it does not assess the comparison with Li et al. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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  • Studies comparing AI to routine referral approaches with lower baseline rates (18.7-22.0%) showed the largest effect sizes (+36.7% to +42.0%), while studies comparing AI to existing manual screening workflows with higher baseline rates (39.6-77.3%) showed more modest improvements (+11.8% to +19.4%).

    “Studies comparing AI to routine referral approaches with typically lower baseline rates of uptake (18.7–22.0%) showed the largest effect sizes (+36.7% to +42.0%)13,17, while studies comparing AI to existing manual screening workflows with higher baseline rates of uptake (39.6–77.3%) showed more modest improvements (+11.8% to +19.4%)14,16,18.”

    From Referral uptake after diabetic retinopathy screening with artificial intelligence-assisted care pathways: a systematic review and meta-analysis (2026) · cites this paper as [17]

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  • Referral appointment timeframes varied from two weeks to twelve months and definitions of referable DR differed.

    “Referral appointment timeframes varied from two weeks18 to twelve months17 and definitions of referable DR differed.”

    From Referral uptake after diabetic retinopathy screening with artificial intelligence-assisted care pathways: a systematic review and meta-analysis (2026) · cites this paper as [17]

    The Methods (page unavailable) instruct patients with vision-threatening disease to attend within one month and those with referable disease within three months—not twelve months. The paper’s twelve-month period is an endpoint for measuring attendance, not a recommended referral appointment timeframe. It defines referable disease but does not itself establish that definitions differed across studies. (LLM, conf=0.86)

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  • Real-world implementation of diabetic retinopathy screening with artificial intelligence-assisted care pathways has accelerated globally since 2020.

    “Real-world implementation of DR screening with AI-assisted care pathways has accelerated globally since 20208,13–22, yet evidence on clinical and health system outcomes such as referral uptake remains limited.”

    From Referral uptake after diabetic retinopathy screening with artificial intelligence-assisted care pathways: a systematic review and meta-analysis (2026) · cites this paper as [17]

    The Methods describe AI-assisted screening in one St. Louis primary care clinic, with patients recruited from January to August 2018. This supports an example of real-world implementation, but not the claim that implementation accelerated globally since 2020. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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  • The included studies had two distinct status quo care pathways: routine referrals for people with diabetes without prior screening and manual grading workflows including asynchronous teleophthalmology.

    “It should be noted there were two distinct, status quo care pathways: studies providing routine referrals for people with diabetes without prior screening13,17 and manual grading workflows including asynchronous teleophthalmology14–16,18.”

    From Referral uptake after diabetic retinopathy screening with artificial intelligence-assisted care pathways: a systematic review and meta-analysis (2026) · cites this paper as [17]

    The Methods and Results describe a historical primary-care cohort of adults with diabetes, including patients due for an eye-screening examination, whose adherence to eye-care recommendations was compared with that of patients receiving automated screening. The Discussion describes referral for an eye examination without prescreening as a comparator, but the paper does not establish that routine referrals were provided to all patients in the historical cohort. The separate manual-grading pathway is attached to other citations in the citing sentence, not this source. (LLM, conf=0.80)

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Authors
Liu, J., Gibson, E., Ramchal, S., Shankar, V., Piggott, K., Sychev, Y., Li, A. S., Rao, P. K., Margolis, T. P., Fondahn, E., Bhaskaranand, M., Solanki, K., & Rajagopal, R.
Affiliations
  • Washington University in St. Louis (US)
  • University of Maryland, Baltimore (US)
  • Eyenuk (United States) (US)
Corresponding author
Rajagopal, Rithwick
Venue
Ophthalmology Retina
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2021-01
Volume
5
Issue
1
Pages
71-77
ISSN
2468-6530 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W3036347230
Cited by
88
References
34
Citations by year
2026: 18 · 2025: 25 · 2024: 13 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 1
FWCI
3.77
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Ophthalmology Retina (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • Research to Prevent Blindness
  • National Eye Institute
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Imaging › Retinal Imaging and Analysis
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Ophthalmology › Ophthalmology and Visual Health Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Ophthalmology › Retinal Diseases and Treatments
Keywords
diabetic retinopathy screening, automated retinal analysis, artificial intelligence, non-mydriatic fundus photography, point-of-care screening, primary care, referral adherence, low-income patients, screening sensitivity and specificity
MeSH terms
Ambulatory Care Facilities, Artificial Intelligence, Diabetic Retinopathy, Female, Follow-Up Studies, Humans, Image Processing, Computer-Assisted, Male, Mass Screening, Middle Aged, Primary Health Care, Prospective Studies, Retina

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