Determination of Average Age From Time of Onset to Diagnosis of Diabetic Retinopathy

Diabetes mellitus is an enduring disease related with signicant morbidity and mortality. The main pathogenesis behind this disease is its numerous micro- and macrovascular complications. In developing countries, diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the major sources of vision impairment in working age population. DR has been classied into two categories: proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR) and nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy (NPDR). NPDR is further classied into mild, moderate and severe, while PDR is further classied into early PDR, high risk PDR and advanced diabetic eye disease. DR is a disease caused due to high blood glucose levels which result in vision loss or permanent blindness. High-level advancements in the eld of bio-medical image processing have speeded up the automated process of disease diagnoses and analysis. Much research has been conducted and computerized systems have been designed to detect and analyze retinal diseases through image processing. Similarly, a number of algorithms have been designed to detect and grade DR by analyzing different symptoms including microaneurysms, soft exudates, hard exudates, cotton wool spots, brotic bands, neovascularization on disc (NVD), neovascularization elsewhere (NVE), hemorrhages and tractional bands. The visual examination of the retina is a vital test to diagnose DR-related complications.