Under the background of the new global definition of ARDS: an interpretable machine learning approach for predicting 28-day ICU mortality in patients with sepsis complicated by ARDS

Background Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a prevalent clinical complication among patients with sepsis, characterized by high incidence and mortality rates. The definition of ARDS has evolved over time, with the new global definition introducing significant updates to its diagnosis and treatment. Our objective is to develop and validate an interpretable prediction model for the prognosis of sepsis patients complicated by ARDS, utilizing machine learning techniques in accordance with the new global definition. Methods This study extracted data from the MIMIC database (version MIMIC-IV 2.2) to create the training set for our model. For external validation, this study used data from sepsis patients complicated by ARDS who met the new global definition of ARDS, sourced from the Affiliated Hospital of Xuzhou Medical University. Lasso regression with cross-validation was used to identify key predictors of patient prognosis. Subsequently, this study established models to predict the 28-day prognosis following ICU admission using various machine learning algorithms, including logistic regression, random forest, decision tree, support vector machine classifier, LightGBM, XGBoost, AdaBoost, and multi-layer perceptron (MLP). Model performance was assessed using ROC curves, clinical decision curves (DCA), and calibration curves, while SHAP values were utilized to interpret the machine learning models. Results A total of 905 patients with sepsis complicated by ARDS were included in our analysis, leading to the selection of 15 key variables for model development. Based on the AUC of the ROC curve, as well as DCA and calibration curve results from the training set, the support vector classifier (SVC) model demonstrated strong performance, achieving an average AUC of 0.792 in the internal validation set and 0.816 in the external validation set. Conclusion The application of machine learning methodologies to construct prognostic prediction models for sepsis patients complicated by ARDS, informed by the new global definition, proves to be reliable. This approach can assist clinicians in developing personalized treatment strategies for affected patients.