Prediction of Cardiovascular Diseases Usingan Optimized Artificial Neural Network

 It is of utmost importance to predict cardiovascular diseases correctly. Therefore, it is necessary to utilize those models with a minimum error rate and maximum reliability. This study aimed to combine an artificial neural network with the genetic algorithm to assess patients with myocardial infarction and congestive heart failure.

This study utilized a multi-layer perceptron artificial neural network and a backpropagation algorithm combined with a genetic algorithm to assess the condition of two patients with cardiovascular diseases. The medical records of 497 patients with cardiovascular diseases at Ayatollah Golpayegani Hospital, Qom, Iran, were collected using a clustering sampling method. The data were analyzed using a Receiver Operating Characteristics Curve. Eventually, the data, including personal and clinical variables of patients (i.e., age, gender, dyspnea, blood pressure variations, and blood test results) were selected using sigmoid-transfer and tangent-sigmoid functions. Following that, the neural network was trained with 19 input neurons and 5 middle-layer neurons.

According to the results, a neural network with 5 middle-layer neurons has more precision, compared to other modes. Therefore, it is possible to predict myocardial infarction in the patients using this neural network with a minimum of 97.7% precision.

An artificial neural network was combined with a genetic algorithm and proposed as a model to predict myocardial infarction in this study. Moreover, it was attempted to utilize important and cost-effective factors for cardiovascular diseases. As a result, the patients can be aware of their disease at the lowest cost.