AI in Diabetes Care : Role and Applications

Diabetes is a common disease. It is a severe body condition when the amount of blood sugar increases. The patient then has to follow a strict lifestyle and high dose of medicines. It occurs to almost 1 out of 4 people. 

 

With growing age the chances of this condition widened. The condition can be normal to severe depending upon the care, cure, and medicines. If handled with care, the patient can live a normal lifestyle. 

 

AI and its technologies also play an important role in diabetes care. The advent of clinical technologies and healthcare research, the sector of healthcare has improved especially in the case of diabetes. In this blog we will learn about the types of Diabetes and the role of artificial intelligence in diabetes care. 

 

(Speaking of technologies, take a look at some top Healthcare technologies)

 

 

What is Diabetes?

 

Diabetes in scientific language is known as diabetes mellitus. It is a metabolic disease that is responsible for high blood sugar. In other words, if you are suffering from diabetes, your body can’t make enough insulin. 

 

Or also it can happen that you are not able to use insulin effectively, though your body is preparing it. If not treated well, untreated blood sugar can damage your nerves, eyes, kidneys, and other organs.

 

(Read about: Applications of Augmented Reality in Healthcare)

 

 

Types of diabetes

 

Diabetes can be classified into various types. Few types of diabetes are classified below:

 

Type 1 diabetes

 

It is an autoimmune disease. In this kind of diabetes, the immune system attacks and destroys cells in the pancreas. The deformed cells thus affect the production of insulin. Patients suffering from type 1 diabetes have to take insulin injections everyday for survival.

 

Type 2 diabetes

 

In this diabetes, the body becomes resistant to insulin. The body is not able to prepare or utilize sufficient insulin. Thus sugar level then builds up in the blood. This is the most common diabetes type and can occured to anyone even to the middle aged people and children.

 

Prediabetes

 

Under this diabetes, the blood sugar level is higher than normal. 

 

Gestational diabetes

 

This diabetes occurs during pregnancy. Placenta sometimes produces insulin-blocking hormones, thus causing diabetes in the end. Mothers diagnosed with gestational diabetes have high risk of type 2 diabetes in future.

 

(Take a look at our blog on AI in Pediatrics)

 

Other health risks caused by diabetes

 

Diabetes itself is a risky health condition that can sometimes cost lives. Along with this, the high sugar level in the body can cause health hazards.

 

1. Risk of heart diseases, especially heart attacks.

 

2. Strokes.

 

3. Kidney failure and other related diseases.

 

4. Eye problems.

 

5. Dental problems like tooth decay.

 

6. Nerve damage.

 

7. Foot problems like increase in uric acid production.

 

Treatment of diabetes

 

All kinds of diabetes can be cured by opting a healthy lifestyle and food habits. The patients can regulate or maintain their blood glucose level by following a healthy diet plan and adding some physical exercise to their routines. Insulin, Metformin, and organ transplant are the other ways to fight different diabetes. 

 

(Suggested Read - AI in cardiology)

 

 

AI in diabetes care

 

AI refers to the embedment of technologies or intelligence in the machines. It is entirely based on machine learning and algorithms designing. It is a fast growing application of science. 

 

The advent of AI has reformed the approaches to diagnosis and managing the condition of diabetes. The principles of AI are used to build algorithms supporting the predictive models for diabetes diagnosis. AI also helps in  studying the complications that can arise in this chronic health condition.

 

AI in type 1 diabetes

 

Type 1 diabetes is also known as Diabetes Mellitius. Artificial intelligence has following applications in type 1 diabetes:

 

1. The AI algorithms help in detecting the composition and components of food. Thus, directly or indirectly AI helps in carb counting.

 

2. AI helps in prediction of future blood glucose values.

 

3. AI anticipates the impending hypoglycemic or hyperglycemic.

 

4. The AI technologies have successfully developed bolus calculators.

 

5. The bolus calculators help in calculating premeal insulin dose prediction.

 

6. The invention of the latest insulin pumps is also an application of AI.

 

AI in type 2 diabetes

 

In developing countries like India, the prevalence of type 2 diabetes is definitely much more than other types of diabetes. The urban population of the country is subjected to risk more than the rural population. 

 

The lack of infrastructure and hospital facilities is responsible for extensive occurrence of type 2 diabetes. AI and machine learning has following applications in type 2 diabetes care:

 

1. AI assists the individual patient’s care. It helps in governing the daily activities and improvement of patients.

 

2. The combination of AI and AIIMS, has implemented decision support systems on mobile platforms.

 

3. Such systems help the physicians and doctors in making better choices for diabetes management strategy.

 

4. The logistics learning helps in the advanced synthesis of drugs such as metformin and sulfonylureas. 

 

5. Advanced technologies and tools help in development and purification of high therapeutic drugs.

 

6. AI technologies help in modification based on fasting blood glucose, glucose values and HbA1c values.

 

7. AI has increased the practical utility of the intervention of factors such as adherence to diet and exercise.

 

8. AI has successfully provided hypoglycemic medication predictions.

 

9. AI helps in identification of temporal relationships between prescribed medications and complications.

 

10. AI helps in creating a drug dosage plan, especially for three antidiabetic drugs Metformin, Gliclazide and Pioglitazone.

 

(Suggested article: AI in nursing sector)

 

 

What are the applications of AI in diabetes care?

---

General applications of AI in diabetic care

---

 

The general applications of AI in diabetic care are as follows:

 

Digital therapeutics

 

Digital therapeutics help in detecting, managing, and curing severe medical conditions by the means of big softwares. It has proven an established intervention for the lifestyle therapy in the management of diabetes. 

 

Clinical decision support

 

Both patients and healthcare professionals are benefitted from clinical support decisions. AI supports a continuous and burden-free remote monitoring of the patient’s symptoms. Thus acts as a biomarker.

 

Social media platforms

 

Social media enhances patient engagement in diabetes cure. The advent of technology helps in optimizing resources in healthcare. 

 

Improved glycemic control

 

Technical reforms help in managing better glycemic control by reduction in postprandial glucose level, glucose excursions, and glycosylated hemoglobin. 

 

Targeted data-driven care

 

AI helps in producing conventional management strategies to build targeted data-driven precision care.

 

(Suggested blog: AI in pediatrics)

 

 

Conclusion

 

The AI system still lacks potency in diabetic care. There are many reasons behind it. The major ones are the economic crisis and technical drawbacks. Areas which need immediate advancement are carbohydrate counting and insulin-carbohydrate ratio calculation. 

 

Also, research should be done to predict the insulin dose for each meal for each patient. India needs to improve its healthcare scenario and technical aspects to improve this field. The data collection and research sector of the country needs to be improved for the further benefits.