Predicting Chronic Pain and Treatment Outcomes Using Machine Learning Models Based on High-Dimensional Clinical Data From a Large Retrospective Cohort

Purpose To identify factors and indicators that affect chronic pain and pain relief, and to develop predictive models using machine learning. Methods We analyzed the data of 67,028 outpatient cases and 11,310 valid samples with pain from a large retrospective cohort. We used decision tree, random forest, AdaBoost, neural network, and logistic regression to discover significant indicators and to predict pain and treatment relief. Findings The random forest model had the highest accuracy, F1 value, precision, and recall rates for predicting pain relief. The main factors affecting pain and treatment relief included body mass index, blood pressure, age, body temperature, heart rate, pulse, and neutrophil/lymphocyte × platelet ratio. The logistic regression model had high sensitivity and specificity for predicting pain occurrence. Implications Machine learning models can be used to analyze the risk factors and predictors of chronic pain and pain relief, and to provide personalized and evidence-based pain management.