Kolkata: A team of experts from Kolkata and technological institutes in Tamil Nadu has developed a health parameter-based model to predict the possible onset of Type II diabetes.
It can teach people about the potential risks of diabetes and help them with suggestions for preventive measures that can save lives, say, experts, who have applied for a patent.
The findings of the model, which is planned to be developed into an app, can allow doctors enough time to sound an early warning to those heading for the condition, which often remains undetected and turns into a silent killer.
The model will be fed into software and use artificial intelligence to arrive at the extent of risk that a patient has of getting diabetes. For someone who already has diabetes, it can calculate the risk emanating from a co-ailment, such as chronic kidney disease, cardiac ailment, liver disease and even COVID, using тАШaugmented intelligenceтАЩ.
тАЬFactors, like body mass index (BMI), diet pattern, blood sugar count, haemoglobin, working hours, sugar intake and medication, including drugs that can increase blood sugar, like steroids, will have to be shared to find out the risk factor.
The software, to be developed into an app after we receive the patent, will factor in the inputs and come up with a risk percentage factor,тАЭ said Peerless Hospital clinical research director Subhrojyoti Bhowmik, a member of the team. It is expected to be commercially available after the patent is awarded in May.
The model has been developed, based on data from 10,000 patients across India. Bhowmick added the model would help both patients, who were headed for diabetes but unaware of their health status, and doctors, who would have a clear idea of the patientsтАЩ risks.
тАЬA specific warning can be issued, based on the data analysis, which will alert patients. Now, doctors issue a general warning. Patients rarely pay attention to it or make lifestyle changes,тАЭ said Bhowmick.
Apart from Bhowmick, the research team includes M Swathy, assistant professor at KPR Institute of Engineering and Technology, Tamil Nadu, T Venkatbabu, assistant professor of the Satyabhama Institute of Science & Technology, Chennai, V Kannan, managing director of CLDC Research & Development, Coimbatore and Debanshu Chatterjee, research and development dean at Swami Vivekananda Institute of Modern Science, Kolkata.
The idea for the model germinated during the pandemic, when thousands of diabetes patients, contracting COVID, found it difficult to cope. тАЬWe forged a collaboration between clinicians and techies to develop a model to predict the exact risk that COVID patients had from their existing diabetes.
So, we arrived at a model that would help predict the onset of the disease and also the extent of risk that it poses to someone with a serious co-ailment, like COVID or kidney failure,тАЭ said Chatterjee, now developing the app.
A specific earmarking of diabetes risk-factor will make more patients take preventive measures than a general advice, felt Fortis Hospital internal medicine consultant Joydeep Ghosh. тАЬThis will also lead many to go for regular blood sugar tests and other related health checks which are rarely done,тАЭ Ghosh added.
