Machine learning algorithms for predicting undernutrition among under-five children in Ethiopia.

OBJECTIVE Child undernutrition is a global public health problem with serious implications. In this study, estimate predictive algorithms for the determinants of childhood stunting by using various machine learning (ML) algorithms. DESIGN This study draws on data from the Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey of 2016. Five machine learning algorithms including eXtreme gradient boosting (xgbTree), k-nearest neighbors (K-NN), random forest (RF), neural network (NNet), and the generalized linear models (GLM) were considered to predict the socio-demographic risk factors for undernutrition in Ethiopia. SETTING Households in Ethiopia. PARTICIPANTS A total of 9,471 children below five years of age. RESULTS The descriptive results show substantial regional variations in child stunting, wasting, and underweight in Ethiopia. Also, among the five ML algorithms, xgbTree algorithm shows a better prediction ability than the generalized linear mixed algorithm. The best predicting algorithm (xgbTree) shows diverse important predictors of undernutrition across the three outcomes which include time to water source, anemia history, child age greater than 30 months, small birth size, and maternal underweight, among others. CONCLUSIONS The xgbTree algorithm was a reasonably superior ML algorithm for predicting childhood undernutrition in Ethiopia compared to other ML algorithms considered in this study. The findings support improvement in access to water supply, food security, and fertility regulation among others in the quest to considerably improve childhood nutrition in Ethiopia.