Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Medical Informatics
Date Submitted: Aug 24, 2020
Open Peer Review Period: Aug 23, 2020 - Sep 29, 2020
Date Accepted: Nov 15, 2020
Date Submitted to PubMed: Dec 16, 2020
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
The Role of Machine Learning Techniques to Tackle COVID-19 Crisis: A Systematic Review.
ABSTRACT
Background:
The novel coronavirus responsible for COVID-19 has caused havoc with patients presenting a spectrum of complications forcing the healthcare experts around the globe to explore new technological solutions, and treatment plans. Machine learning (ML) based technologies have played a substantial role in solving complex problems, and several organizations have been swift to adopt and customize them in response to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Objective:
The objective of this study is to conduct a systematic literature review on the role of ML as a comprehensive and decisive technology to fight the COVID-19 crisis in the arena of epidemiology, diagnosis, and disease progression.
Methods:
A systematic search in PubMed, Web of Science, and CINAHL databases was performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) guidelines to identify all potentially relevant studies published and made available between December 1, 2019, and June 27, 2020. The search syntax was built using keywords specific to COVID-19 and ML. A total of 128 qualified articles were reviewed and analyzed based on the study objectives.
Results:
The 128 publications selected were classified into three themes based on ML applications employed to combat the COVID-19 crisis: Computational Epidemiology (CE), Early Detection and Diagnosis (EDD), and Disease Progression (DP). Of the 128 studies, 70 focused on predicting the outbreak, the impact of containment policies, and potential drug discoveries, which were grouped into the CE theme. For the EDD, we grouped forty studies that applied ML techniques to detect the presence of COVID-19 using the patient's radiological images or lab results. Eighteen publications that focused on predicting the disease progression, outcomes (recovery and mortality), Length of Stay (LOS), and number of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) days for COVID-19 positive patients were classified under the DP theme.
Conclusions:
In this systematic review, we assembled the current COVID-19 literature that utilized ML methods to provide insights into the COVID-19 themes, highlighting the important variables, data types, and available COVID-19 resources that can assist in facilitating clinical and translational research.
Citation
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Copyright
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