Classification-augmented survival estimation (CASE): A novel method for individualized long-term survival prediction with application to liver transplantation.

Survival analysis is critical in many fields, particularly in healthcare where it can guide medical decisions. Conventional survival analysis methods like Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards models to generate survival curves indicating probability of survival v. time have limitations, especia...

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Main Authors: Hamed Shourabizadeh, Dionne M Aleman, Louis-Martin Rousseau, Katina Zheng, Mamatha Bhat
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2025-01-01
Series:PLoS ONE
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0315928
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author Hamed Shourabizadeh
Dionne M Aleman
Louis-Martin Rousseau
Katina Zheng
Mamatha Bhat
author_facet Hamed Shourabizadeh
Dionne M Aleman
Louis-Martin Rousseau
Katina Zheng
Mamatha Bhat
author_sort Hamed Shourabizadeh
collection DOAJ
description Survival analysis is critical in many fields, particularly in healthcare where it can guide medical decisions. Conventional survival analysis methods like Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards models to generate survival curves indicating probability of survival v. time have limitations, especially for long-term prediction, due to assumptions that all instances follow a general population-level survival curve. Machine learning classification models, even those designed for survival predictions like random survival forest (RSF), also struggle to provide accurate long-term predictions due to class imbalance. We improve upon traditional survival machine learning approaches through a novel framework called classification-augmented survival estimation (CASE), which treats survival as a classification task that ultimately yields survival curves, beginning with dataset augmentation to improve class imbalance for use with any classification model. Unlike other approaches, CASE additionally provides an exact survival time prediction. We demonstrate CASE on a liver transplant case study to predict >20 years survival post-transplant, finding that CASE dataset augmentation improved AUCs from 0.69 to 0.88 and F1 scores from 0.32 to 0.73. Compared to Kaplan-Meier, Cox, and RSF survival models, the CASE framework demonstrated better performance across various existing survival metrics, as well as our novel metric, mean of individual areas under the survival curve (mAUSC). Further, we develop novel temporal feature importance methods to understand how different features may vary in survival importance over time, potentially providing actionable insights in real-world survival problems.
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institution Kabale University
issn 1932-6203
language English
publishDate 2025-01-01
publisher Public Library of Science (PLoS)
record_format Article
series PLoS ONE
spelling doaj-art-65d51a77fbaa41729a27ea9e01d837fc2025-02-05T05:31:15ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032025-01-01201e031592810.1371/journal.pone.0315928Classification-augmented survival estimation (CASE): A novel method for individualized long-term survival prediction with application to liver transplantation.Hamed ShourabizadehDionne M AlemanLouis-Martin RousseauKatina ZhengMamatha BhatSurvival analysis is critical in many fields, particularly in healthcare where it can guide medical decisions. Conventional survival analysis methods like Kaplan-Meier and Cox proportional hazards models to generate survival curves indicating probability of survival v. time have limitations, especially for long-term prediction, due to assumptions that all instances follow a general population-level survival curve. Machine learning classification models, even those designed for survival predictions like random survival forest (RSF), also struggle to provide accurate long-term predictions due to class imbalance. We improve upon traditional survival machine learning approaches through a novel framework called classification-augmented survival estimation (CASE), which treats survival as a classification task that ultimately yields survival curves, beginning with dataset augmentation to improve class imbalance for use with any classification model. Unlike other approaches, CASE additionally provides an exact survival time prediction. We demonstrate CASE on a liver transplant case study to predict >20 years survival post-transplant, finding that CASE dataset augmentation improved AUCs from 0.69 to 0.88 and F1 scores from 0.32 to 0.73. Compared to Kaplan-Meier, Cox, and RSF survival models, the CASE framework demonstrated better performance across various existing survival metrics, as well as our novel metric, mean of individual areas under the survival curve (mAUSC). Further, we develop novel temporal feature importance methods to understand how different features may vary in survival importance over time, potentially providing actionable insights in real-world survival problems.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0315928
spellingShingle Hamed Shourabizadeh
Dionne M Aleman
Louis-Martin Rousseau
Katina Zheng
Mamatha Bhat
Classification-augmented survival estimation (CASE): A novel method for individualized long-term survival prediction with application to liver transplantation.
PLoS ONE
title Classification-augmented survival estimation (CASE): A novel method for individualized long-term survival prediction with application to liver transplantation.
title_full Classification-augmented survival estimation (CASE): A novel method for individualized long-term survival prediction with application to liver transplantation.
title_fullStr Classification-augmented survival estimation (CASE): A novel method for individualized long-term survival prediction with application to liver transplantation.
title_full_unstemmed Classification-augmented survival estimation (CASE): A novel method for individualized long-term survival prediction with application to liver transplantation.
title_short Classification-augmented survival estimation (CASE): A novel method for individualized long-term survival prediction with application to liver transplantation.
title_sort classification augmented survival estimation case a novel method for individualized long term survival prediction with application to liver transplantation
url https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0315928
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