A predictive screening tool to detect diabetic retinopathy or macular edema in primary health care: construction, validation and implementation on a mobile application

The most described techniques used to detect diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular edema have to be interpreted correctly, such that a person not specialized in ophthalmology, as is usually the case of a primary care physician, may experience difficulties with their interpretation; therefore we constructed, validated and implemented as a mobile app a new tool to detect diabetic retinopathy or diabetic macular edema (DRDME) using simple objective variables. We undertook a cross-sectional, observational study of a sample of 142 eyes from Spanish diabetic patients suspected of having DRDME in 2012–2013. Our outcome was DRDME and the secondary variables were: type of diabetes, gender, age, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c), foveal thickness and visual acuity (best corrected). The sample was divided into two parts: 80% to construct the tool and 20% to validate it. A binary logistic regression model was used to predict DRDME. The resulting model was transformed into a scoring system. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) was calculated and risk groups established. The tool was validated by calculating the AUC and comparing expected events with observed events. The construction sample (n = 106) had 35 DRDME (95% CI [24.1–42.0]), and the validation sample (n = 36) had 12 DRDME (95% CI [17.9–48.7]). Factors associated with DRDME were: HbA1c (per 1%) (OR = 1.36, 95% CI [0.93–1.98], p = 0.113), foveal thickness (per 1 µm) (OR = 1.03, 95% CI [1.01–1.04], p < 0.001) and visual acuity (per unit) (OR = 0.14, 95% CI [0.00–0.16], p < 0.001). AUC for the validation: 0.90 (95% CI [0.75–1.00], p < 0.001). No significant differences were found between the expected and the observed outcomes (p = 0.422). In conclusion, we constructed and validated a simple rapid tool to determine whether a diabetic patient suspected of having DRDME really has it. This tool has been implemented on a mobile app. Further validation studies are required in the general diabetic population.