Application of a transparent artificial intelligence algorithm for US adults in the obese category of weight

Identification of associations between the obese category of weight in the general US population will continue to advance our understanding of the condition and allow clinicians, providers, communities, families, and individuals make more informed decisions. This study aims to improve the prediction of the obese category of weight and investigate its relationships with factors, ultimately contributing to healthier lifestyle choices and timely management of obesity.

Questionnaires that included demographic, dietary, exercise and health information from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES 2017-2020) were utilized with BMI 30 or higher defined as obesity. A machine learning model, XGBoost predicted the obese category of weight and Shapely Additive Explanations (SHAP) visualized the various covariates and their feature importance. Model statistics including Area under the receiver operator curve (AUROC), sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and feature properties such as gain, cover, and frequency were measured. SHAP explanations were created for transparent and interpretable analysis.

There were 6,146 adults (age > 18) that were included in the study with average age 58.39 (SD = 12.94) and 3122 (51%) females. The machine learning model had an Area under the receiver operator curve of 0.8295. The top four covariates include waist circumference (gain = 0.185), GGT (gain = 0.101), platelet count (gain = 0.059), AST (gain = 0.057), weight (gain = 0.049), HDL cholesterol (gain = 0.032), and ferritin (gain = 0.034).

In conclusion, the utilization of machine learning models proves to be highly effective in accurately predicting the obese category of weight. By considering various factors such as demographic information, laboratory results, physical examination findings, and lifestyle factors, these models successfully identify crucial risk factors associated with the obese category of weight.