Identification of the Optimal Model for the Prediction of Diabetic Retinopathy in Chinese Rural Population: Handan Eye Study.

Background: To identify an optimal model for diabetic retinopathy (DR) prediction in Chinese rural population by establishing and comparing different algorithms based on the data from Handan Eye Study (HES).

Methods: Five algorithms, including multivariable logistic regression (MLR), classification and regression trees (C&RT), support vector machine (SVM), random forests (RF), and gradient boosting machine (GBM), were used to establish DR prediction models with HES data. The performance of the models was assessed based on the adjusted area under the ROC curve (AUROC), sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy.

Results: The data on 4752 subjects were used to build the DR prediction model, and among them, 198 patients were diagnosed with DR. The age of the included subjects ranged from 30 to 85 years old, with an average age of 50.9 years (SD = 3.04). The kappa coefficient of the diagnosis between the two ophthalmologists was 0.857. The MLR model revealed that blood glucose, systolic blood pressure, and body mass index were independently associated with the development of DR. The AUROC obtained by GBM (0.952), RF (0.949), and MLR (0.936) was similar and statistically larger than that of CART (0.682) and SVM (0.765).

Conclusions: The MLR model exhibited excellent prediction performance and visible equation and thus was the optimal model for DR prediction. Therefore, the MLR model may have the potential to serve as a complementary screening tool for the early detection of DR, especially in remote and underserved areas.