Table 1.

International Clinical Disease Severity Scale for diabetic retinopathy (DR).

Disease	Ophthalmoscopy Findings
No apparent DR	No ocular findings
NPDR	No NV
Mild	Microaneurysms only
Moderate	Microaneurysms + blot haemorrhages, hard exudates, cotton wool spots (but less than in severe NPDR)
Severe	Intraretinal haemorrhages (≥20 in each quadrant) Definite venous beading (in two quadrants) Intraretinal microvascular abnormalities (IRMA) (in one quadrant) No signs of proliferative retinopathy
PDR	Neovascularisation or vitreous/preretinal haemorrhage/tractional retinal detachment
DME = retinal thickening of hard exudates in the posterior pole
Mild	Some retinal thickening or hard exudates in the posterior pole but distant from the centre of the macula
Moderate	Retinal thickening or hard exudates approaching the centre of the macula but not involving the fovea
Severe	Retinal thickening or hard exudates involving the centre of the macula

DR = diabetic retinopathy; NPDR = nonproliferative diabetic retinopathy; NV = neovascularisation; PDR = proliferative diabetic retinopathy; DME = diabetic macular oedema.