Demystifying machine learning for mortality prediction
Jim M Smit, Michel Egide van Genderen, Marcel J. T. Reinders, Diederik A M P J Gommers, Jesse H. Krijthe, Jasper van Bommel · Critical Care · 2021
With interest, we read the article by Banoei et al. [1] on machine learning (ML) models to predict mortality among COVID-19 patients. They refer to other studies that failed to predict mortality using ‘conventional statistical analysis’, after which they present a linear ML model as a better suited method for such complex medical problems. We feel such a claim creates an image around ML as an alternative technique that offers solutions where statistical modeling fails. However, ML and statistical modeling are tightly interwoven. [...]