AI-based Automatic Retinal Image Analysis (ARIA) for Detecting Depression Risk in Adults

Overview

Our AI-based Retinal Image Analysis (ARIA) detects the risk of depression for adults in a noninvasive, fast, and convenient manner. Our study recruited 298 subjects, with 149 clinical depression cases from a psychiatric hospital and 149 age and gender-matched controls from the community. Our results show a sensitivity and specificity of 98.7% using a 10-fold cross-validation approach with AUC 0.997.

Technical name of innovation

Automatic Retinal Image Analysis (ARIA) - Risk Assessment for Depression in Adults

Commercialisation opportunities

Exclusing Licensing

Problem addressed

Depression affects approximately 280 million people globally, highlighting the need for reliable screening tests. ARIA technology addresses this need through its depression risk assessment, followed by "lifestyle interventions" for both the general population and those with depression. These interventions aim to lower the risk or extend remission periods.

Innovation

ARIA is the first-of-its-kind technology in Hong Kong that uses retinal images to identify adults at high risk of depression.
Sensitivity and specificity are more than 90%

Key impact

ARIA serves as a fast and convenient screening tool for depression readily used in community settings.
ARIA enables continual monitoring of depression in a fast, convenient, and accurate manner within community settings.
It is cost-effective and objective, not requiring professionals for analysis.

Award

Gold Medal, International Exhibition of Inventions Geneva 2024

Application

For the general population, ARIA enhances awareness on mental health and suggests high-risk individuals adopt “lifestyle interventions" to reduce their risks, including physical activity, a Mediterranean diet, reduced smoking and alcohol consumption, improved sleep quality, and increased social connections through hobbies.
For individuals with depression, we aim to monitor their condition using ARIA while they are undergoing treatment and encourage them to adopt “lifestyle interventions” to prolong the duration of remission.

Patent

Method and device for retinal image analysis (US8787638B2; CN103458772; TWI578977)

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK)

Founded in 1963, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) is a forward-looking comprehensive research university with a global vision and a mission to combine tradition with modernity, and to bring together China and the West. CUHK teachers and students hail from all around the world. Four Nobel laureates are associated with the university, and it is the only tertiary institution in Hong Kong with recipients of the Nobel Prize, Turing Award, Fields Medal and Veblen Prize sitting as faculty in residence. CUHK graduates are connected worldwide through an extensive alumni network. CUHK undertakes a wide range of research programmes in many subject areas, and strives to provide scope for all academic staff to undertake consultancy and collaborative projects with industry.

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