Predicting heart failure risk in dogs with mitral valve disease

Abstract

IntroductionMyxomatous mitral valve disease (MMVD) is the most common cause of heart failure in dogs, and assessing the risk of heart failure in dogs with MMVD is often challenging. Machine learning applied to electronic health records (EHRs) is an effective tool for predicting prognosis in the medical field. This study aimed to develop machine learning-based heart failure risk prediction models for dogs with MMVD using a dataset of EHRs.MethodsA total of 143 dogs with MMVD between May 2018 and May 2022. Complete medical records were reviewed for all patients. Demographic data, radiographic measurements, echocardiographic values, and laboratory results were obtained from the clinical database. Four machine-learning algorithms (random forest, K-nearest neighbors, naïve Bayes, support vector machine) were used to develop risk prediction models. Model performance was represented by plotting the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve and calculating the area under the curve (AUC). The best-performing model was chosen for the feature-ranking process.ResultsThe random forest model showed superior performance to the other models (AUC = 0.88), while the performance of the K-nearest neighbors model showed the lowest performance (AUC = 0.69). The top three models showed excellent performance (AUC ≥ 0.8). According to the random forest algorithm’s feature ranking, echocardiographic and radiographic variables had the highest predictive values for heart failure, followed by packed cell volume (PCV) and respiratory rates. Among the electrolyte variables, chloride had the highest predictive value for heart failure.DiscussionThese machine-learning models will enable clinicians to support decision-making in estimating the prognosis of patients with MMVD.