Abstract: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a common microvascular complication of diabetes mellitus.It is the main cause of low vision and blindness in adults.Screening can enable early diagnosis and treatment of DR, thereby reducing the visual impairment and improving the quality of life. Before organizing large-scale screening,national health departments usually evaluate the effectiveness and the social cost of screening. Inrecent years, many countries and regions have applied telemedicine in primary health institutions to carry out DR screening projects, and used health economics methods to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of screening. Analyzing single or multiple sensitive factors to develop a personalized screening plan to maximize cost-effectiveness. Recent studies on telemedicine in the field of DR screening at home and abroad show that most telemedicine is cost-effective in health economic evaluation, and the development of personalized screening programs can optimize the cost-effectiveness. (Int Rev Ophthalmol, 2023, 47: 36-42)

Key words: health economics, telemedicine, diabetic retinopathy, screening