Abstract

Machine learning techniques provide learning mechanism that can be used to induce knowledge from data. A few studies exist on the use of machine learning techniques for medical diagnosis, prediction and treatment. In this study we evaluate different machine learning techniques for birth classification (cesarean or normal). Data on cesarean section is collected and different medical factors are identified that result in cesarean births. A birth classification model is built using decision tree and artificial neural networks. It can classify the births into normal and cesarean with an average accuracy, precision and recall of 80%, 85% and 84% respectively. Association rule mining is used to extract disease patterns from the collected data. It highlights the important medical factors that are associated with cesarean births.