Implementation of Predictive Analytics in Healthcare Using Hybrid Deep Learning Models †

Abstract

Predictive analytics has emerged as a powerful tool for improving decision-making in healthcare, particularly in disease prediction and patient management. However, conventional architectures may find it difficult to handle various features of healthcare data, such as high dimensionality and ineffective measures to handle unstructured data. This work examines the shortcomings of the traditional ML strategy by fusing deep learning approaches with the existing models in an improved predictive performance. Specifically, we propose three hybrid models: (1) Random Forest and Neural Networks (RF + NN), (2) XGBoost and Neural Networks (XGBoost + NN), and (3) Autoencoder and Random Forest (Autoencoder + RF). The goal is to compare these models’ ability to predict healthcare outcomes using standard performance metrics, which include the measures of accuracy, precision, recall, and F1-score. An important research gap revealed from the literature review is that most models tend to have higher precision at the cost of recall and vice versa. Our proposed hybrid models combine the strengths of feature selection from traditional algorithms (RF, XGBoost) with the advanced pattern recognition capabilities of Neural Networks (NNs) and autoencoders, aiming for a more balanced predictive performance. The RF + NN model produces the highest accuracy at 96.81%, with precise accuracy at 90.48% and accurate precision at 70.08%. Nevertheless, the accuracy of a slightly lower XGBoost + NN model of 96.75% showed better actual capability of identifying true positives than false positives, with 73.54% recall. From our results it is evident that the best model in terms of precision was the Autoencoder + RF model, with a precision of 91.36%; it was however the worst in recall, with only 66.22%. Accordingly, these findings imply that for the same level of predictive accuracy, the hybrid models are better in handling imbalanced problems and provide directions for better healthcare predictive systems in the future.