ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Nutr.

Sec. Clinical Nutrition

Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2025.1600319

Construction and evaluation of a machine learning-based predictive model for enteral nutrition feeding intolerance risk in ICU patients

Provisionally accepted
Gaimei  WangGaimei Wang1Cendi  LuCendi Lu1Yehong  WeiYehong Wei1*Owusu  Mensah SolomonOwusu Mensah Solomon2
  • 1ICU, Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China
  • 2Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

Objective: We aim to investigate the factors influencing enteral nutrition feeding intolerance (ENFI) in critically ill patients and develop a risk prediction model for ENFI in intensive care unit (ICU) patients, utilizing three machine learning algorithms. This model will serve as an assessment tool for preventing and managing ENFI in ICU patients Methods: A total of 487 ICU patients from a tertiary hospital in Zhejiang Province between January 2021 and December 2023 were selected as the study subjects. The patients were randomly divided into a training set and a test set in an 8:2 ratio. Three machine learning algorithmslogistic regression (LR), support vector machine (SVM), and random forest (RF)were used to construct the risk prediction model for ENFI in ICU patients. The predictive performance of the three models was compared using metrics such as AUC (area under the ROC curve), accuracy, precision, recall, and F1 score.The logistic regression model achieved an AUC of 0.9308, with an accuracy of 94.3%, precision of 95.4%, recall of 88.6%, and an F1-score of 0.9185 in correctly identifying ENFI risk in ICU patients. The random forest model attained an AUC of 0.9511, with an accuracy of 96.1%, precision of 97.7%, recall of 91.4%, and an F1-score of 0.9446. The support vector machine (SVM) model yielded an AUC of 0.9241, with an accuracy of 94.1%, precision of 96.8%, recall of 86.4%, and an F1-score of 0.9132.The random forest model performed the best in this study, demonstrating superior predictive performance.Reporting Method: TRIPOD + AI checklist.

Keywords: ICU patients, Enteral Nutrition, Feeding intolerance, machine learning, Prediction model

Received: 26 Mar 2025; Accepted: 12 Jun 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Wang, Lu, Wei and Solomon. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Yehong Wei, ICU, Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China

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