A hybrid feature selection algorithm to determine effective factors in predictive model of success rate for in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatment: A cross-sectional study

Previous research has identified key factors affecting in vitro fertilization or intracytoplasmic sperm injection success, yet the lack of a standardized approach for various treatments remains a challenge.

The objective of this study is to utilize a machine learning approach to identify the principal predictors of success in in vitro fertilization and intracytoplasmic sperm injection treatments.

We collected data from 734 individuals at 2 infertility centers in Mashhad, Iran between November 2016 and March 2017. We employed feature selection methods to reduce dimensionality in a random forest model, guided by hesitant fuzzy sets (HFSs). A hybrid approach enhanced predictor identification and accuracy (ACC), as assessed using machine learning metrics such as matthew’s correlation coefficient, runtime, ACC, area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, precision or positive predictive value, recall, and F-Score, demonstrating the effectiveness of combining feature selection methods.

Our hybrid feature selection method excelled with the highest ACC (0.795), area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (0.72), and F-Score (0.8), while selecting only 7 features. These included follicle-stimulation hormone (FSH), 16Cells, FAge, oocytes, quality of transferred embryos (GIII), compact, and unsuccessful.

We introduced HFSs in our novel method to select influential features for predicting infertility success rates. Using a multi-center dataset, HFSs improved feature selection by reducing the number of features based on standard deviation among criteria. Results showed significant differences between pregnant and non-pregnant groups for selected features, including FSH, FAge, 16Cells, oocytes, GIII, and compact. We also found a significant correlation between FAge and fetal heart rate and clinical pregnancy rate, with the highest FSH level (31.87%) observed for doses ranging from 10-13 (mIU/ml).