Using machine learning to examine the relationship between asthma and absenteeism.

Journal: Environmental monitoring and assessment
PMID:

Abstract

In this study, we found that machine learning was able to effectively estimate student learning outcomes geo-spatially across all the campuses in a large, urban, independent school district. The machine learning showed that key factors in estimating the student learning outcomes included the number of days students were absent from school. In turn, one of the most important factors in estimating the number of days a student was absent was whether or not the student had asthma. This highlights the importance of environmental public health for student learning outcomes.

Authors

  • Maria-Anna Lary
    Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, TX, 76107, USA.
  • Leslie Allsopp
    Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, TX, 76107, USA.
  • David J Lary
    William B. Hanson Center for Space Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA.
  • David A Sterling
    Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of North Texas Health Science Center, Fort Worth, TX, 76107, USA.