Understanding the RetinaRisk Algorithm & The App Home Screen

October 30, 2019 - Ægir Þór Steinarsson

The RetinaRisk app is driven by an algorithm that we have spent the last 8 years developing and testing (retinarisk.com/research). The algorithm calculates the risk of you developing sight threatening diabetic retinopathy meaning how likely you are to develop diabetic retinopathy in later stages and need medical treatment. This means that you can use the risk calculator even if you have been diagnosed with early stage diabetic retinopathy. The algorithm works by looking at various pieces of information unique to you such as HbA1c, blood pressure, type of diabetes, duration of diabetes and if you have been diagnosed with mild diabetic retinopathy before.


The risk result is displayed in percentages and represents your own unique risk for the coming year. The risk is also displayed in colors to help you interpret the results with red(high risk), yellow(medium risk) and green(low risk). Any result above 3%, which is the average risk in the population, will be displayed as high risk or higher than average.


At the bottom of the screen you have an option to save the results which you can do once per day. By saving the results, you build up a trend that you can analyze later to see how your individualized risk is developing. This means you can look at a graph where all your risk results are displayed on a timeline. You can access the trends analysis in one of the menu options at the bottom of the front screen(paid feature).


You can update the risk calculation each time you have either new HbA1c or blood pressure values or both.

Please follow and like us: