Advancing Interstitial Cystitis/Bladder Pain Syndrome (IC/BPS) Diagnosis: A Comparative Analysis of Machine Learning Methodologies

This study aimed to improve machine learning models for diagnosing interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) by comparing classical machine learning methods with newer AutoML approaches, utilizing biomarker data and patient-reported outcomes as features. We applied various machine learning techniques to biomarker data from the previous IP4IC and ICRS studies to predict the presence of IC/BPS, a disorder impacting the urinary bladder. Data were sourced from two nationwide, crowd-sourced collections of urine samples involving 2009 participants. The models utilized included logistic regression, support vector machines, random forests, k-nearest neighbors, and AutoGluon. Expanding the dataset for model training and evaluation resulted in improved performance metrics compared to previously published findings. The implementation of AutoML methods yielded enhancements in model accuracy over classical techniques. The top-performing models achieved a receiver-operating characteristic area under the curve (ROC-AUC) of up to 0.96. This research demonstrates an improvement in model performance relative to earlier studies, with the top model for binary classification incorporating objective urinary biomarker levels. These advancements represent a significant step toward developing a reliable classification model for the diagnosis of IC/BPS.