Machine Learning Approach for Preterm Birth Prediction Using Health Records: Systematic Review

BackgroundPreterm birth (PTB), a common pregnancy complication, is responsible for 35% of the 3.1 million pregnancy-related deaths each year and significantly affects around 15 million children annually worldwide. Conventional approaches to predict PTB lack reliable predictiv...

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Main Authors: Zahra Sharifi-Heris, Juho Laitala, Antti Airola, Amir M Rahmani, Miriam Bender
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: JMIR Publications 2022-04-01
Series:JMIR Medical Informatics
Online Access:https://medinform.jmir.org/2022/4/e33875
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author Zahra Sharifi-Heris
Juho Laitala
Antti Airola
Amir M Rahmani
Miriam Bender
author_facet Zahra Sharifi-Heris
Juho Laitala
Antti Airola
Amir M Rahmani
Miriam Bender
author_sort Zahra Sharifi-Heris
collection DOAJ
description BackgroundPreterm birth (PTB), a common pregnancy complication, is responsible for 35% of the 3.1 million pregnancy-related deaths each year and significantly affects around 15 million children annually worldwide. Conventional approaches to predict PTB lack reliable predictive power, leaving >50% of cases undetected. Recently, machine learning (ML) models have shown potential as an appropriate complementary approach for PTB prediction using health records (HRs). ObjectiveThis study aimed to systematically review the literature concerned with PTB prediction using HR data and the ML approach. MethodsThis systematic review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) statement. A comprehensive search was performed in 7 bibliographic databases until May 15, 2021. The quality of the studies was assessed, and descriptive information, including descriptive characteristics of the data, ML modeling processes, and model performance, was extracted and reported. ResultsA total of 732 papers were screened through title and abstract. Of these 732 studies, 23 (3.1%) were screened by full text, resulting in 13 (1.8%) papers that met the inclusion criteria. The sample size varied from a minimum value of 274 to a maximum of 1,400,000. The time length for which data were extracted varied from 1 to 11 years, and the oldest and newest data were related to 1988 and 2018, respectively. Population, data set, and ML models’ characteristics were assessed, and the performance of the model was often reported based on metrics such as accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve. ConclusionsVarious ML models used for different HR data indicated potential for PTB prediction. However, evaluation metrics, software and package used, data size and type, selected features, and importantly data management method often remain unjustified, threatening the reliability, performance, and internal or external validity of the model. To understand the usefulness of ML in covering the existing gap, future studies are also suggested to compare it with a conventional method on the same data set.
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spelling doaj.art-88c69bca2dab4b139f36ba2daa25a5be2023-08-28T21:27:10ZengJMIR PublicationsJMIR Medical Informatics2291-96942022-04-01104e3387510.2196/33875Machine Learning Approach for Preterm Birth Prediction Using Health Records: Systematic ReviewZahra Sharifi-Herishttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-5526-1844Juho Laitalahttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-8420-2173Antti Airolahttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-1010-4386Amir M Rahmanihttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-0725-1155Miriam Benderhttps://orcid.org/0000-0003-2457-1652 BackgroundPreterm birth (PTB), a common pregnancy complication, is responsible for 35% of the 3.1 million pregnancy-related deaths each year and significantly affects around 15 million children annually worldwide. Conventional approaches to predict PTB lack reliable predictive power, leaving >50% of cases undetected. Recently, machine learning (ML) models have shown potential as an appropriate complementary approach for PTB prediction using health records (HRs). ObjectiveThis study aimed to systematically review the literature concerned with PTB prediction using HR data and the ML approach. MethodsThis systematic review was conducted in accordance with the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) statement. A comprehensive search was performed in 7 bibliographic databases until May 15, 2021. The quality of the studies was assessed, and descriptive information, including descriptive characteristics of the data, ML modeling processes, and model performance, was extracted and reported. ResultsA total of 732 papers were screened through title and abstract. Of these 732 studies, 23 (3.1%) were screened by full text, resulting in 13 (1.8%) papers that met the inclusion criteria. The sample size varied from a minimum value of 274 to a maximum of 1,400,000. The time length for which data were extracted varied from 1 to 11 years, and the oldest and newest data were related to 1988 and 2018, respectively. Population, data set, and ML models’ characteristics were assessed, and the performance of the model was often reported based on metrics such as accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve. ConclusionsVarious ML models used for different HR data indicated potential for PTB prediction. However, evaluation metrics, software and package used, data size and type, selected features, and importantly data management method often remain unjustified, threatening the reliability, performance, and internal or external validity of the model. To understand the usefulness of ML in covering the existing gap, future studies are also suggested to compare it with a conventional method on the same data set.https://medinform.jmir.org/2022/4/e33875
spellingShingle Zahra Sharifi-Heris
Juho Laitala
Antti Airola
Amir M Rahmani
Miriam Bender
Machine Learning Approach for Preterm Birth Prediction Using Health Records: Systematic Review
JMIR Medical Informatics
title Machine Learning Approach for Preterm Birth Prediction Using Health Records: Systematic Review
title_full Machine Learning Approach for Preterm Birth Prediction Using Health Records: Systematic Review
title_fullStr Machine Learning Approach for Preterm Birth Prediction Using Health Records: Systematic Review
title_full_unstemmed Machine Learning Approach for Preterm Birth Prediction Using Health Records: Systematic Review
title_short Machine Learning Approach for Preterm Birth Prediction Using Health Records: Systematic Review
title_sort machine learning approach for preterm birth prediction using health records systematic review
url https://medinform.jmir.org/2022/4/e33875
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