Table of contents
Expand All Topics
Diabetic retinopathy
What's new
Updated 2025 ADA guidelines for the diagnosis and management of diabetic retinopathy .
Background
Overview
Definition
DR is a chronic microvascular complication of diabetes characterized by visual impairment in one or both the eyes.
Pathophysiology
DR is caused due to uncontrolled longstanding hyperglycemia.
1
Disease course
Clinical manifestations of DR include microaneurysms, dot and blot hemorrhages, hard exudates, cotton wool spots, intraretinal microvascular abnormalities, and retinal edema in non-proliferative DR. Severe non-proliferative DR progresses to proliferative DR characterized by neovascularization. Progressive DR results in diabetic macular edema and permanent visual loss.
1
Prognosis and risk of recurrence
DR is associated with increased all-cause mortality and cardiovascular events risk with an odds ratio of 2.34 (95% CI 1.96-2.80].
2
Guidelines
Key sources
The following summarized guidelines for the evaluation and management of diabetic retinopathy are prepared by our editorial team based on guidelines from the American Diabetes Association (ADA 2025,2024).
1
2
3
4