Machine learning algorithms for predicting undernutrition among under-five children in Ethiopia

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dc.contributor.authorBitew, Fikrewold H.
dc.contributor.authorSparks, Corey S.
dc.contributor.authorNyarko, Samuel H.
dc.date.accessioned2022-04-26T21:17:10Z
dc.date.available2022-04-26T21:17:10Z
dc.date.issued2021-10-08
dc.description.abstractObjective: Child undernutrition is a global public health problem with serious implications. In this study, we estimate predictive algorithms for the determinants of childhood stunting by using various machine learning (ML) algorithms. Design: This study draws on data from the Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey of 2016. Five ML algorithms including eXtreme gradient boosting, k-nearest neighbours (k-NN), random forest, neural network and the generalised linear models were considered to predict the socio-demographic risk factors for undernutrition in Ethiopia. Setting: Households in Ethiopia. Participants: A total of 9471 children below 5 years of age participated in this study. Results: The descriptive results show substantial regional variations in child stunting, wasting and underweight in Ethiopia. Also, among the five ML algorithms, xgbTree algorithm shows a better prediction ability than the generalised linear mixed algorithm. The best predicting algorithm (xgbTree) shows diverse important predictors of undernutrition across the three outcomes which include time to water source, anaemia history, child age greater than 30 months, small birth size and maternal underweight, among others. Conclusions: The xgbTree algorithm was a reasonably superior ML algorithm for predicting childhood undernutrition in Ethiopia compared to other ML algorithms considered in this study. The findings support improvement in access to water supply, food security and fertility regulation, among others, in the quest to considerably improve childhood nutrition in Ethiopia.en_US
dc.description.departmentDemographyen_US
dc.identifier.issn1475-2727
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12588/853
dc.language.isoen_USen_US
dc.publisherCambridge University Pressen_US
dc.relation.ispartofseriesPublic Health Nutrition;Volume 25, Issue 2
dc.rightsAttribution 3.0 United States*
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/*
dc.subjectpredictive algorithmsen_US
dc.subjectdeterminantsen_US
dc.subjectchild undernutritionen_US
dc.subjectspatial variationsen_US
dc.subjectmachine learningen_US
dc.subjectEthiopaen_US
dc.titleMachine learning algorithms for predicting undernutrition among under-five children in Ethiopiaen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US

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