Harnessing Machine Learning for Prediction of Postoperative Pulmonary Complications: Retrospective Cohort Design

Postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs) are significant causes of postoperative morbidity and mortality. This study presents the utilization of machine learning for predicting PPCs and aims to identify the important features of the prediction models. This study used a retrospective cohort design and collected data from two hospitals. The dataset included perioperative variables such as patient characteristics, preexisting diseases, and intraoperative factors. Various algorithms, including logistic regression, random forest, light-gradient boosting machines, extreme-gradient boosting machines, and multilayer perceptrons, have been employed for model development and evaluation. This study enrolled 111,212 adult patients, with an overall incidence rate of 8.6% for developing PPCs. The area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of the models was 0.699-0.767, and the f1 score was 0.446-0.526. In the prediction models, except for multilayer perceptron, the 10 most important features were obtained. In feature-reduced models, including 10 important features, the AUROC was 0.627-0.749, and the f1 score was 0.365-0.485. The number of packed red cells, urine, and rocuronium doses were similar in the three models. In conclusion, machine learning provides valuable insights into PPC prediction, significant features for prediction, and the feasibility of models that reduce the number of features.