How I built an interactive community diabetes model from a recent systematic review

 


Dr. Emrick's Books and Articles

A Math Model for Community Diabetes – Healthcare Leadership & Management

After weeks of trial and error, I finally worked all the code bugs out of an interactive community diabetes math model based on a peer-reviewed article by Andriyana and Abdulah (2025). The interactive model that I designed is a mathematical model for community-based intervention for managing diabetes. Here is the peer review article link: https://doi.org/10.2147/JMDH.S510753

To code and build the model, I analyzed modeling behavior as presented by the authors.  I then set out to create a working, interactive model that a county health team could actually use at the planning table. My north star was straightforward: translate the paper’s core insights into a tool that lets a small team test combined strategies, see local impact, and stress-test assumptions about adoption and fidelity before spending money in the field.

Three messages from the review shaped my model blueprint. First, combined strategies beat single levers when communities carry a heavy burden of obesity and physical inactivity. The Qatar modeling work, for example, shows that when policy and behavior change move together, long-run incidence and cost trends bend more visibly than with any single intervention alone. Second, diet change only works on a scale when plans honor local foodways, price, and availability; goal-programming studies on culturally familiar menus make that concrete. Third, awareness and access are complements. Optimal-control models that treat media campaigns and treatment capacity as time-varying levers find the largest benefits when both move upward together. So, go ahead and give it a try!


Comments