Enhancing the Early Detection of Chronic Kidney Disease: A Robust Machine Learning Model

Abstract

Clinical decision-making in chronic disorder prognosis is often hampered by high variance, leading to uncertainty and negative outcomes, especially in cases such as chronic kidney disease (CKD). Machine learning (ML) techniques have emerged as valuable tools for reducing randomness and enhancing clinical decision-making. However, conventional methods for CKD detection often lack accuracy due to their reliance on limited sets of biological attributes. This research proposes a novel ML model for predicting CKD, incorporating various preprocessing steps, feature selection, a hyperparameter optimization technique, and ML algorithms. To address challenges in medical datasets, we employ iterative imputation for missing values and a novel sequential approach for data scaling, combining robust scaling, z-standardization, and min-max scaling. Feature selection is performed using the Boruta algorithm, and the model is developed using ML algorithms. The proposed model was validated on the UCI CKD dataset, achieving outstanding performance with 100% accuracy. Our approach, combining innovative preprocessing steps, the Boruta feature selection, and the k-nearest neighbors algorithm, along with a hyperparameter optimization using grid-search cross-validation (CV), demonstrates its effectiveness in enhancing the early detection of CKD. This research highlights the potential of ML techniques in improving clinical support systems and reducing the impact of uncertainty in chronic disorder prognosis.