Multi-Objective Performance Optimization of Machine Learning Models in Healthcare.

Journal: Studies in health technology and informatics
Published Date:

Abstract

Multi-objective optimization holds particular significance for medical applications, wherein enhancing sensitivity is crucial to avoid costly missed diagnoses, and maintaining high specificity is imperative to prevent unnecessary procedures. In particular, when optimizing machine learning architectures for clinical diagnostics, it becomes essential to balance target quality measures such as accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity. Therefore, we developed MOOF, a multi-objective optimization framework that employs NSGA-II and TOPSIS to simultaneously optimize the model parameters of three selected ML algorithms: random forest, support vector machine, and multilayer perceptron. Finally, we evaluated the performance of the optimized MOOF models compared to gold standard methods such as multi-score grid search and single objective optimizations. Our results show that MOOF generally outperforms other approaches by inherently providing optimal solutions, representing the trade-offs between the target objectives. In conclusion, the study supports the importance of multi-objective optimization in medical informatics, with MOOF as a powerful tool for precise ML models, potentially improving patient care and clinical decision support systems.

Authors

  • Maryam Moradpour
    University Medical Center Göttingen, Dep. of Medical Informatics, Göttingen, Germany.
  • Zully Ritter
    Institute of Medical Informatics, University Medicine Göttingen, Georg-August University, Göttingen, Germany.
  • Anne-Christin Haushild
    University Medical Center Göttingen, Dep. of Medical Informatics, Göttingen, Germany.