Neural networks as a tool for utilizing laboratory information: comparison with linear discriminant analysis and with classification and regression trees.

Successful applications of neural network architecture have been described in various fields of science and technology. We have applied one such technique, error back-propagation, to a medical classification problem stemming from clinical chemistry, and we have compared the performance of two different neural networks with results obtained by conventional linear discriminant analysis or by the technique of classification and regression trees. The results obtained by the various models were tested for robustness by jackknife validation ("leave n out" method). Compared with the two other techniques, neural networks show a unique ability to detect features hidden in the input data which are not explicitly formulated as input. Thus, neural network techniques appear promising in the field of clinical chemistry, and their application, particularly in situations with complex data structures, should be investigated with more emphasis.