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Frontiers in Medical Science Research, 2025, 7(4); doi: 10.25236/FMSR.2025.070406.

Machine Learning Approaches Combined with Power Analysis to Improve the Prediction of Population Pharmacokinetic Modeling

Author(s)

Wen Huang1,2, Ying Li2, Jiangyan Lu2, Nansong Wang2

Corresponding Author:
Wen Huang
Affiliation(s)

1School of Life Sciences and Biopharmaceutical Science, Shenyang Pharmaceutical University, Shenyang, 110016, China

2Department of Pharmacy, The University of Hong Kong-Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518000, China

Abstract

This study aims to determine if integrating machine learning (ML) approaches with power analysis for correlated covariates enhances predictive performance in modeling. Two drugs were selected to apply population pharmacokinetics methodology. Parameter-covariate relationships were estimated using stepwise covariate modeling (SCM). Power analysis identified correlated true covariates for each parameter chosen by SCM. If correlated true covariates were identified, ML methods further selected the most significant covariate. The calibrated model utilizing this significant covariate was compared to the SCM model, evaluating performance using relative error. Non-compartment analysis (NCA) calculated individual reference AUC, enabling comparison of AUCs from calibrated and SCM models with the reference AUC to assess predictive performance. Results showed that calibrated models outperformed SCM models, with R² values exceeding 80%. Overall, the calibrated models predicted AUC more accurately than the SCM models. Power analysis helped eliminate false covariates among correlated ones, while ML methods provided criteria for selecting covariates from the identified true covariates. Thus, combining these methods can enhance population pharmacokinetic model predictions.

Keywords

machine learning, calibrated models, pharmacokinetic

Cite This Paper

Wen Huang, Ying Li, Jiangyan Lu, Nansong Wang. Machine Learning Approaches Combined with Power Analysis to Improve the Prediction of Population Pharmacokinetic Modeling. Frontiers in Medical Science Research (2025), Vol. 7, Issue 4: 47-55. https://doi.org/10.25236/FMSR.2025.070406.

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