Vision transformer based interpretable metabolic syndrome classification using retinal Images.

Lee, Tae Kwan; Kim, So Yeon; Choi, Hyuk Jin; Choe, Eun Kyung; Sohn, Kyung-Ah · NPJ Digit Med · 2025

cross_sectional · Level IV

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Abstract

Metabolic syndrome is leading to an increased risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Our study developed a model using retinal image data from fundus photographs taken during comprehensive health check-ups to classify metabolic syndrome. The model achieved an AUC of 0.7752 (95% CI: 0.7719-0.7786) using retinal images, and an AUC of 0.8725 (95% CI: 0.8669-0.8781) when combining retinal images with basic clinical features. Furthermore, we propose a method to improve the interpretability of the relationship between retinal image features and metabolic syndrome by visualizing metabolic syndrome-related areas in retinal images. The results highlight the potential of retinal images in classifying metabolic syndrome.