Modeling the progression of Type 2 diabetes with underlying obesity
Fig 6
Dynamics of glucose, insulin and functional beta-cell mass for patient B with severe obesity (X approaches 1 progressively).
Patient B is assumed to have a lower insulin resistance level and less beta-cell hyperresponsiveness to the obesity-related factor than patient A does. Graph (b) shows the hyperinsulinemic stage of patient B lasts for 15.2 years, which is 3.3 years shorter than patient A does in Fig 2. The maximal insulin level he would develop is 39 μU/ml, which is 27.6 μU/ml lower than the highest level that patient A attains. During this hyperinsulinemic stage, the glucose levels can be well controlled beneath 111.6 mg/dl. Additionally, patient B would not step into the diabetic stage until day 9676, which is 11.5 years later than patient A does.