An investigation of the COVID-19 impact on liver cancer using exploratory and predictive analytics

Abstract

This study presents the influence of COVID-19 and the pandemic on individuals diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, the two most common types of primary liver cancer. The study compares the effects before and after the pandemic on these patients. Additionally, it endeavors to predict the likelihood of survival for liver cancer patients. Our research will employ various methodologies to investigate this. Exploratory data analysis techniques are utilized, including univariate analysis, correlation analysis, bivariate analysis, chi-square testing, and T-sample testing. For predictive analytics, machine learning algorithms such as Logistic Regression, Decision Trees, Classification And Regression Tree (CART), Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), and Support Vector Machines (SVMs) will be applied. For our outputs, Logistic Regression and SVMs emerged as top-performing algorithms, boasting a remarkable accuracy rate of 93%. The study reveals that COVID-19 affected all age groups similarly. However, a gender-based difference was observed, indicating that males faced a higher risk of both cancer and mortality. Furthermore, the study found that variables such as year, month, bleeding, cirrhosis, and previously known cirrhosis did not significantly influence patient survival.