Determining Risk Factors That Affect Progression in Patients with Nonproliferative Diabetic Retinopathy

Figure 1

Illustration of the effect of HbA1c level on sojourn time, the expected time for a patient to progress to the next DR stage. For example, in our model, a patient who has mild NPDR with an HbA1c level of 7% is expected to progress to moderate NPDR in 5.9 years, while another patient who has mild NPDR with an HbA1c level of 8% is expected to progress to moderate NPDR in 5.4 years. DR = diabetic retinopathy; NPDR = nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy.