Autonomous AI-assisted diabetic retinopathy screening at primary care is associated with increased presentation to eye care by at risk patients.

PubMed ID: 41781569

Author(s): Leong A, Wolf RM, Channa R, Wang J, Lehmann H, Abramoff MD, Liu TYA. Autonomous AI-assisted diabetic retinopathy screening at primary care is associated with increased presentation to eye care by at risk patients. NPJ Digit Med. 2026 Mar 5. doi: 10.1038/s41746-026-02460-5. Online ahead of print. PMID 41781569

Journal: Npj Digital Medicine, Mar 2026

Adult patients with diabetes (n = 3745) seen at Johns Hopkins Medicine primary care sites were referred to the Wilmer Eye Institute either based on a primary care provider referral or autonomous AI diagnostic result (referral was made after a positive or non-diagnostic result). An inverse-probability-weighted regression, which incorporated propensity score matching on social determinants of health and relevant clinical variables, showed that implementation of an autonomous AI-assisted diabetic screening program in a primary care clinic was associated with increased presentation to eye care specialist care by African-Americans (p = 0.02). This is significant because African-Americans have traditionally been less likely to undergo annual screening exams and more likely to present with more severe forms of diabetic retinopathy (DR). The results suggest a potential association between office-based, AI-assisted DR screening and improved downstream ophthalmic access for African-American patients. However, given that the analysis was exploratory, this association should be interpreted cautiously and further validated.