Proactive diabetes management: research directions

Abstract

More than 200 million people across the globe are affected by Diabetes Mellitus (DM), which is one of the most common endocrine disorders. DM progression is dangerous as it leads to several life-threatening complications within 5--15 years of onset, depending on the care and management that they receive for DM. Hence, it is important for the public and healthcare policymakers to look proactively at managing the onset of the disease and delay associated complications as far as possible. Proactive management would result in significant reductions in the healthcare expenses. The fight against DM is multidisciplinary and research-oriented. Computer and data scientists can collaborate with medical researchers to augment research and management by using the power of big data analytics, machine learning, IoT (Internet of Things), and cloud computing. Computing principles and techniques can be used to efficiently collect, manage, and analyse data to derive meaningful insights, which can then be used for efficient management of the health concerns of patients. This paper describes the need for diabetes management and reviews technological interventions and related research directions in proactive diabetes management.