Machine learning and its epidemiological applications

Abstract

As an important branch of artificial intelligence, machine learning is widely used in various fields. Machine learning has similarity to classical statistical methods, but can solve many problems which are difficult for traditional statistics, so it is one of the important tools in epidemiological research. This paper introduced 9 common algorithms of machine learning and summarized their characteristics and applications in epidemiological research. Readers could choose appropriate machine learning method according to the research purpose for the better application of machine learning in epidemiological research.