Summary of incidence and progression of DR in Chinese populations
| Name/place of study | Age (years) | Sample size | Design | Follow-up years | Photography | Classification | Incidence (%) | Progression (%) | Regression (%) |
| Fengyutan community, Shenyang (10) | 60–84 | 548 | CB | 4 | Not mentioned | ETDRS | 1.81 person-year | – | – |
| Beijing Eye Study (18) | ≥40 | 2602 | PB | 10 | Two fields | ETDRS | 4.2 | – | – |
| Beixinjing community, Shanghai (9) | ≥19 | 778 | CB | 5 | Two fields (screening), FFA (for suspect) | ICDR | 46.89 | – | 24.12 |
| Beijing Eye Study (20) | ≥40 | 170 | PB | 5 | Two fields | ETDRS | – | 35.3 | – |
| Hong Kong (19) | 20–77 | 354 | HB | 4.2 | Two fields | ETDRS | 20.3 | 34.7 | 13.2 |
| Kinmen, Taiwan (8) | ≥30 | 725 | CB | 2.56 | Indirect ophthalmoscopy and single field | DRDSC | 6.62 per year | – | – |
| Taiwan (21) | ≥40 | 471 | Healthcare centres | 4 | Direct/indirect ophthalmoscopy | No DR, BDR, PPDR, PDR | 19.2 | 30 | – |
| FS-DIRECT | ≥30 | 1389 | CB | 1.8 | Six fields | ETDRS | 5.8* | 26.8* | 10.0* |
*Data presented as age-standardised and sex-standardised.
BDR, background diabetic retinopathy; CB, community-based; DR, diabetic retinopathy; DRDSC, diabetic retinopathy disease severity scale; FFA, fundus fluorescence angiography; FS-DIRECT, fushun diabetic retinopathy cohort study; HB, hospital-based; ICDR, international clinical diabetic retinopathy and diabetic macular oedema disease severity scale; PB, population-based; PDR, proliferative diabetic retinopathy; PPDR, preproliferative diabetic retinopathy.