Classification Model for Diabetic Foot, Necrotizing Fasciitis, and Osteomyelitis

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Necrotizing fasciitis (NF) and osteomyelitis (OM) are severe complications in patients with diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs). Although NF and OM often cause results including limb amputation and death, definite diagnoses of these are challenging. To aid the prompt and proper diagnosis of NF and OM in patients with DFU, we developed and evaluated a novel prediction model based on machine learning technology. In summary, our prediction model appropriately discriminated the NF and OM from diabetic foot. Moreover, this prediction model has advantages in that it is based on the demographic data and routine laboratory results, which requires no additional examinations which are complicated or expensive. ABSTRACT: Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) and their life-threatening complications, such as necrotizing fasciitis (NF) and osteomyelitis (OM), increase the healthcare cost, morbidity and mortality in patients with diabetes mellitus. While the early recognition of these complications could improve the clinical outcome of diabetic patients, it is not straightforward to achieve in the usual clinical settings. In this study, we proposed a classification model for diabetic foot, NF and OM. To select features for the classification model, multidisciplinary teams were organized and data were collected based on a literature search and automatic platform. A dataset of 1581 patients (728 diabetic foot, 76 NF, and 777 OM) was divided into training and validation datasets at a ratio of 7:3 to be analyzed. The final prediction models based on training dataset exhibited areas under the receiver operating curve (AUC) of the 0.80 and 0.73 for NF model and OM model, respectively, in validation sets. In conclusion, our classification models for NF and OM showed remarkable discriminatory power and easy applicability in patients with DFU.