The Importance of Personalized Advice for People with Type 1 Diabetes
It is estimated that 415 million people in the world suffer from diabetes, with a predicted increase to approximately 642 million by 2040. Due to diabetes, one person dies every six seconds, more than HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria combined.
To address this issue, the Suguard mobile application was created to increase awareness of people with diabetes and facilitate their disease management every day, thanks to self-learning artificial intelligence algorithms.
Need for Personalized Advice
People living with type 1 diabetes (T1D) need to make decisions about their treatment multiple times a day. However, doctors are not available 24/7 to dispel any doubts, and typical visits to a diabetologist are 15 minutes once every three months, both in Europe and the USA. Websites, books, and patient support groups provide only general suggestions. Modern medical devices can collect data, show patterns, and suggest next steps, but they have an important limitation: current systems are not personalized and do not adjust to individual variations in insulin requirements.
Creating a Solution
To address these unmet needs, we are creating a solution that "learns" each patient with T1D to provide personalized recommendations. Our solution was inspired by personal experience of DLabs CEO, who has been living with diabetes since age 10 and was looking for a solution to help him stay active and do sports. Since everyone is different, we started with interviewing patients to learn more about their specific challenges and validated the need for advanced algorithms for diabetes management. Both patients and healthcare providers are interested in a solution that would improve health outcomes and decrease costs.
How AI Can Help Diabetes
Working on the Suguard mobile app is challenging – DLabs.AI team wants to create the best smart mobile app for people with type 1 diabetes on the global market. Our solution uses existing sensors that measure glucose, physical activity, and other health parameters. Data collected from these devices and sensors is the input for our algorithm. The algorithm learns individual patterns from health-related data and defines which treatment suggestions can be derived from it. It is self-adjusting, adapting to changes in lifestyle and insulin needs.
Our Ambition
Our conclusion: existing devices, such as insulin dose calculators, insulin pumps, and continuous glucose monitoring devices, as well as IT solutions (web and mobile apps), are not smart. Existing systems cannot adapt to changes in insulin needs, because they do not take into account that everyone is affected by diabetes differently and that there are many variables that can affect glucose levels.
Conclusion
The technology created by DLabs team uses artificial intelligence to personalize diabetic therapy and help patients in their day-to-day management of this chronic disease. This solution will benefit people suffering from type 1 diabetes, as it requires intensive treatment and exceptional care, especially during sports activities.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the purpose of the Suguard mobile application?
The purpose of the Suguard mobile application is to increase awareness of people with diabetes and facilitate their disease management every day, thanks to self-learning artificial intelligence algorithms. - How does the algorithm work?
The algorithm learns individual patterns from health-related data and defines which treatment suggestions can be derived from it. It is self-adjusting, adapting to changes in lifestyle and insulin needs. - What are the features of the Suguard mobile application?
The features of the Suguard mobile application include a diabetes diary, reports, data exchange, and more.
How AI and Data Science Can Help Manage Diabetes in Everyday Life
The number of users in the segment "eHealth solutions for Diabetes" is expected to amount to 13.7m by 2020. The biggest growth is predicted in the Apps and Smart Devices sectors. The number of people with diabetes is going to rise in the next few years as well. Due to technology development, the growing popularity of mobile applications, and a growing number of people suffering from diabetes, it is just a matter of time that more and more people are about to use eHealth solutions.
