Deep Learning-Based Glucose Prediction Models: A Guide for Practitioners and a Curated Dataset for Improved Diabetes Management

Accurate short- and mid-term blood glucose predictions are crucial for patients with diabetes struggling to maintain healthy glucose levels, as well as for individuals at risk of developing the disease. Consequently, numerous efforts from the scientific community have focused on developing predictive models for glucose levels. This study harnesses physiological data collected from wearable sensors to construct a series of data-driven models based on deep learning approaches. We systematically compare these models to offer insights for practitioners and researchers venturing into glucose prediction using deep learning techniques. Key questions addressed in this work encompass the comparison of various deep learning architectures for this task, determining the optimal set of input variables for accurate glucose prediction, comparing population-wide, fine-tuned, and personalized models, and assessing the impact of an individual's data volume on model performance. Additionally, as part of our outcomes, we introduce a meticulously curated dataset inclusive of data from both healthy individuals and those with diabetes, recorded in free-living conditions. This dataset aims to foster research in this domain and facilitate equitable comparisons among researchers.