Table 1.

Diabetic retinopathy classification

Severity level	Ophthalmoscopy changes	Retinography changes	Outcome
Absent	No alterations	No alterations	Observationa
Mild non-proliferative	Microaneurysms only	At least one hemorrhage or microaneurysm	Observationa
Moderate non-proliferative	More than “microaneurysms only” and less than “Severe non- proliferative”	Four or more hemorrhages in only one hemi-field (superior and inferior hemi-fields separated by the line passing through the center of the macula and the optic disc)	Referral
Severe non-proliferative	Any of the following: retinal hemorrhages in each of the four quadrants; venous beading in 2 quadrants; intraretinal microvascular abnormalities (IRMA) in one quadrant AND absence of proliferative signs	Any of the following: Four or more hemorrhages in the superior AND inferior hemi-fields Venous beading IRMA	Referral
Proliferative	One or more of the following: neovascularization, vitreous or pre-retinal hemorrhage	Any of the following: Active neovessels Vitreous hemorrhage	Referral

^aExcept in cases of apparently present macular edema (see Table 2), in which the outcome was referral