Title: Developing a culturally sensitive expert system for carbohydrate counting and determining insulin doses for patients with insulin-dependent diabetes

Authors: Aysha Saleh Yahya Saleh Alkhalaqi; Hissa Qassim Al-Mahmoud; Fatima Abdulla Al-Naimi; Shaikha Abdulrahman Al-Thani; Yasmin K.A. Meqdad; Roudha Hassan Qasmi; Habib Ullah Khan; Khaled Abdelkarim AlShare; Hiba Ahmad Abed Bawadi

Addresses: College of Health Sciences, Qatar University, P.O. Box 2713, Doha, Qatar ' Department of Accounting and Information Systems, College of Business and Economics, Qatar University, P.O. Box 2713, Doha, Qatar ' College of Health Sciences, Qatar University, P.O. Box 2713, Doha, Qatar ' Department of Accounting and Information Systems, College of Business and Economics, Qatar University, P.O. Box 2713, Doha, Qatar ' Department of Accounting and Information Systems, College of Business and Economics, Qatar University, P.O. Box 2713, Doha, Qatar ' College of Health Sciences, Qatar University, P.O. Box 2713, Doha, Qatar ' Department of Accounting and Information Systems, College of Business and Economics, Qatar University, P.O. Box 2713, Doha, Qatar ' Department of Accounting and Information Systems, College of Business and Economics, Qatar University, P.O. Box 2713, Doha, Qatar ' College of Health Sciences, Qatar University, P.O. Box 2713, Doha, Qatar

Abstract: The prevalence of diabetes is increasing globally. The risk of developing diabetes complications can be reduced by continuous self-monitoring and following carbohydrate counting (CC) approach. Diabetic patients find difficulty in calculating carbohydrate intake manually. Systems and applications that aid in CC and insulin dose determination are few and no similar systems were created while considering the dietary characteristics and the culture of Gulf cooperation council (GCC) countries. To combat this problem accurately, a culturally sensitive expert system is developed to help insulin-dependent diabetic patients in determining the appropriate insulin doses based on the carbohydrate count. The expert system involved the usage of different food composition tables that incorporate both traditional and international food for better adherence by the patient. After validating using different performance metrics and case studies it was concluded that this system is user-friendly and can be accessed in both English and Arabic languages.

Keywords: expert system; carbohydrate counting; diabetes; insulin-dependent patient; Qatar.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIS.2025.146598

International Journal of Business Information Systems, 2025 Vol.49 No.2, pp.161 - 179

Received: 27 Aug 2021
Accepted: 07 Oct 2021
Published online: 06 Jun 2025 *

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