Equivalences between age structured models and state dependent distributed delay differential equations

Math Biosci Eng. 2019 Jun 11;16(5):5419-5450. doi: 10.3934/mbe.2019270.

Abstract

We use the McKendrick equation with variable ageing rate and randomly distributed mat-uration time to derive a state dependent distributed delay differential equation. We show that the resulting delay differential equation preserves non-negativity of initial conditions and we characterise local stability of equilibria. By specifying the distribution of maturation age, we recover state depen-dent discrete, uniform and gamma distributed delay differential equations. We show how to reduce the uniform case to a system of state dependent discrete delay equations and the gamma distributed case to a system of ordinary differential equations. To illustrate the benefits of these reductions, we convert previously published transit compartment models into equivalent distributed delay differential equations.

Keywords: age structured populations; delay differential equations; linear chain technique; state dependent delays; transit compartment models.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't