A recurrent neural network approach to predicting hemoglobin trajectories in patients with End-Stage Renal Disease

The most severe form of kidney disease, End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) is treated with various forms of dialysis - artificial blood cleansing. Dialysis patients suffer many health burdens including high mortality and hospitalization rates, and symptomatic anemia: a low red blood cell count as indicated by a low hemoglobin (Hgb) level. ESRD-induced anemia is treated, with variable patient response, by erythropoiesis stimulating agents (ESAs): expensive injectable medications typically administered during dialysis sessions. The dosing protocol is typically a population level protocol based on original clinical trials, the use of which often results in Hgb cycling. This cycling phenomenon occurs primarily due to the mismatch in the time between dosing decisions and the time it takes for the effects of a dosing change to be fully realized. In this paper we develop a recurrent neural network approach that uses historic data together with future ESA and iron dosing data to predict the 1, 2, and 3 month Hgb levels of patients with ESRD-induced anemia. The results of extensive experimentation indicate that this approach generates predictions that are clinically relevant: the mean absolute error of the predictions is comparable to estimates of the intra-individual variability of the laboratory test for Hgb.