Diabetic retinopathy

This project aims to identify unknown or interacting risk factors that could predict the development of diabetic retinopathy in individuals with diabetes.

The Problem

It is estimated that around 4.6 million people in the UK are living with diagnosed diabetes.

Within the diabetes population, about 25% to 30% experience retinopathy, while around 5% have advanced or vision-threatening forms.

If you have diabetes and you're aged 12 or over, you'll get a letter every 2 years asking you to have diabetic eye screening. (If you have gestational diabetes, which is often a temporary condition, you will not be invited for diabetic eye screening). If the early stages of retinopathy is found, the patient will be invited to screening every 1 year.

Around 93% of people in NWL attended their screening in the last 27 months.

This blanket screening results in millions of GP appointments annually, placing significant strain on healthcare resources.git

Our Solution

This project is research based. The Data Science team are using some statistical/economical/data science/ML techniques to find these risk factors. If anything substantial is found, it could be used as a basis for further research, a report and could influence an updated screening policy.

Results

The project is a WIP and so we don't have any results to share at this time.