A Simple Modeling Framework For Prediction In The Human Glucose-Insulin System

Abstract

In this paper, we build a new, simple, and interpretable mathematical model to estimate and forecast physiology related to the human glucose-insulin system, constrained by available data. By constructing a simple yet flexible model class with interpretable parameters, this general model can be specialized to work in different settings, such as type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and intensive care unit (ICU); different choices of appropriate model functions describing uptake of nutrition and removal of glucose differentiate between the models. In both cases, the available data is sparse and collected in clinical settings, major factors that have constrained our model choice to the simple form adopted. The model has the form of a linear stochastic differential equation (SDE) to describe the evolution of the BG level. The model includes a term quantifying glucose removal from the bloodstream through the regulation system of the human body and two other terms representing the effect of nutrition and externally delivered insulin. The stochastic fluctuations encapsulate model error necessitated by the simple model form and enable flexible incorporation of data. The model parameters must be learned in a patient-specific fashion, leading to personalized models. We present experimental results on patient-specific parameter estimation and future BG level forecasting in T2DM and ICU settings. The resulting model leads to the prediction of the BG level as an expected value accompanied by a band around this value which accounts for uncertainties in the prediction. Such predictions, then, have the potential for use as part of control systems that are robust to model imperfections and noisy data. Finally, the model's predictive capability is compared with two different models built explicitly for T2DM and ICU contexts.