In-silico works on the control of blood glucose level for different Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus Subjects using improved Hovorka equations

Abstract

Background: One of the most common types of diabetes is Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) which causes high or low blood glucose levels (BGL) in a patient’s body. T1DM patients need to maintain their BGL in a safe glycemic range which is between 4.0 mmol/L to 7 mmol/L. Thus, it is high time to find the optimum insulin infusion rate into the patient’s body in achieving prolonged normoglycemic range. Methods: Previous workers had focused on employing the improved Hovorka equations via in-silico study using one T1DM patient’s data; however, in-silico works employing more actual patients’ data are yet to be explored. Hence, this study attempts to apply the improved Hovorka equations on three different T1DM subjects so as to simulate their BGL profiles based on daily stipulated meal disturbances, individual body weights and age group. Results: Results showed that the optimum insulin infusion rates required to regulate the BGL within safe glycemic range were at 0.1 U/min, 0.05 U/min and 0.0167 U/min for the case of patients 1, 2 and 3, respectively; provided that different amounts of meal intake (DG) were observed by each patient during breakfast, lunch and dinner times. Conclusion: In conclusion, this study had proven that the improved Hovorka equations can be used to simulate the meal disturbance effect on BGL for more T1DM patients. Keywords Blood glucose level; Closed-loop control system; Hovorka model; Meal disturbance; Type 1 diabetes mellitus