Exploring influencing factors of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease based on elastic net and Bayesian network

This study aimed to construct Bayesian networks (BNs) to analyze the network relationships between COPD and its influencing factors, and the strength of each factor's influence on COPD was reflected through network reasoning. Elastic Net and Max-Min Hill-Climbing (MMHC) algorithm were adopted to screen the variables on the surveillance data of COPD among residents in Shanxi Province, China from 2014 to 2015, and construct BNs respectively. 10 variables finally entered the model after screening by Elastic Net. The BNs constructed by MMHC showed that smoking status, household air pollution, family history, cough, air hunger or dyspnea were directly related to COPD, and Gender was indirectly linked to COPD through smoking status. Moreover, smoking status, household air pollution and family history were the parent nodes of COPD, and cough, air hunger or dyspnea represented the child nodes of COPD. In other words, smoking status, household air pollution and family history were related to the occurrence of COPD, and COPD would make patients’ cough, air hunger or dyspnea worse. Generally speaking, BNs could reveal the complex network linkages between COPD and its relevant factors well, making it more convenient to carry out targeted prevention and control of COPD.