Diabetic retinopathy: a review of the aarhus approach to studies on epidemiology, computerised grading, and the pathophysiology of the disease.

Diabetic retinopathy is one of the leading causes of blindness in the western world (Munier et al 1998). The challenges for improving the visual prognosis in this disease are comprehensive, and involve a multitude of methodological approaches. Thus, ongoing research programmes are aimed at studying as diverse aspects of diabetic retinopathy as epidemiology, genetics, screening, diagnosis, treatment, and understanding of the pathophysiology of the disease. This review presents the scientific approach followed at Aarhus University Hospital in relation to three of these aspects-epidemiology, computerised grading, and elucidation of the pathophysiology of diabetic retinopathy.