Comparative Analysis of Machine Learning Models for Prediction of Acute Liver Injury in Sepsis Patients

Introduction: Acute liver injury (ALI) is a common complication of sepsis and is associated with adverse clinical outcomes. We aimed to develop a model to predict the risk of ALI in patients with sepsis after hospitalization. Methods: Medical records of 3196 septic patients treated at the Lishui Central Hospital in Zhejiang Province from January 2015 to May 2023 were selected. Cohort 1 was divided into ALI and non-ALI groups for model training and internal validation. The initial laboratory test results of the study subjects were used as features for machine learning (ML), and models built using nine different ML algorithms were compared to select the best algorithm and model. The predictive performance of model stacking methods was then explored. The best model was externally validated in Cohort 2. Results: In Cohort 1, LightGBM demonstrated good stability and predictive performance with an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.841. The top five most important variables in the model were diabetes, congestive heart failure, prothrombin time, heart rate, and platelet count. The LightGBM model showed stable and good ALI risk prediction ability in the external validation of Cohort 2 with an AUC of 0.815. Furthermore, an online prediction website was developed to assist healthcare professionals in applying this model more effectively. Conclusions: The Light GBM model can predict the risk of ALI in patients with sepsis after hospitalization.