Project summary
Losing sensation in the feet is one of the most common diabetes complications. It's often diagnosed too late and, in the most serious cases, can result in amputation. So it is vitally important to find a way to predict who’s at risk as soon as possible. Professor Robyn Tapp is testing whether photos taken at the annual eye screening for people with diabetes could be used as an early warning system to identify people at high risk of foot problems, and prevent complications.
Background to research
Losing sensation in the feet, also called diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN), is a common complication of diabetes. DPN gets progressively worse and can eventually lead to amputations without the right care. But DPN is often only detected when people have already lost the sensation in their feet, and there aren’t any tests to spot signs earlier at the moment.
People with diabetes are also at risk of damage to the blood vessels at the back of the eye. To spot this damage, everyone with diabetes should be offered eye screening every year to photos taken of their eyes, which are checked for changes to the shape or size of blood vessels.
Professor Robyn Tapp has found that damage detected in eye screening photos can predict blood vessel damage in other parts of the body. So she wants to know if they can also tell us about someone’s risk of developing DPN.
Research aims
Professor Tapp’s team will study eye photos of over 160,000 people with diabetes and their health information over the past 15 years. Using artificial intelligence (AI), they’ll build a computer programme that will study eye photos and ‘learn’ the features that can help to pinpoint DPN risk.
The team will then test if the AI can predict DPN 5 years before it develops.
They’ll also look at how health features, like average blood sugar levels, body mass index and cholesterol, are linked with DPN development over time to identify the biggest risk factors.
Potential benefit to people with diabetes
DPN affects nearly 50% of people with diabetes during their lifetime. Without the right care, it can lead to serious foot problems. This research could give us a simple way to find those at-risk years before DPN has developed. This could allow doctors to direct care to where it's most needed, to stop complications before they devastate lives.
