Survival Analysis of High-Dimensional Data With Graph Convolutional Networks and Geometric Graphs

This article proposes a survival model based on graph convolutional networks (GCNs) with geometric graphs directly constructed from high-dimensional features. First, we clarify that the graphs used in GCNs play an important role in processing the relational information of samples, and the graphs that align well with the underlying data structure could be beneficial for survival analysis. Second, we show that sparse geometric graphs derived from high-dimensional data are more favorable compared with dense graphs when used in GCNs for survival analysis. Third, from this insight, we propose a model for survival analysis based on GCNs. By using multiple sparse geometric graphs and a proposed sequential forward floating selection algorithm, the new model is able to simultaneously perform survival analysis and unveil the local neighborhoods of samples. The experimental results on real-world datasets show that the proposed survival analysis approach based on GCNs outperforms a variety of existing methods and indicate that geometric graphs can aid survival analysis of high-dimensional data.