Mixed-Effects Machine Learning improved prediction of Obstetric Anal Sphincter Injury: a nationwide multicenter cohort study.

Existing prediction models for obstetric anal sphincter injuries (OASIS) often rely on traditional regression, lack external validation, and, when fitted on multicenter data, fail to account for hospital-level clustering. We aimed to develop and temporally validate mixed-effects machine learning models for OASIS and compare them with traditional regression models. A secondary aim was to evaluate whether macrosomia ([≥]4000 g) could substitute for continuous birth weight. We conducted a retrospective nationwide cohort study of singleton, term ([≥]37 weeks), cephalic vaginal deliveries in the Dutch Perinatal Registry. Data from 2016 to 2019 were used for model development with three-fold cross-validation; data from 2020 were reserved for temporal validation. Candidate predictors included 18 demographic, obstetric, and neonatal factors. We developed six models: mixed-effects gradient boosting (MEGB), mixed-effects LASSO (ME-LASSO), and backward stepwise logistic regression, each with either birth weight or macrosomia. Discrimination was assessed by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), calibration by calibration plots, and prediction accuracy by the Brier score. Among 614,255 deliveries, OASIS occurred in 2.6%. In temporal validation including macrosomia, MEGB achieved the highest discrimination (AUC 0.727; 95% CI 0.719-0.735), significantly outperforming ME-LASSO (AUC 0.719; 95% CI 0.710-0.727; P<.0001) and stepwise logistic regression (AUC 0.714; 95% CI 0.706-0.722; P<.0001). Including birth weight marginally improved performance, with macrosomia serving as an effective proxy. Consistently important predictors were nulliparity, prolonged second stage, mediolateral episiotomy, advanced maternal age, operative vaginal delivery, macrosomia, and previous cesarean delivery. Uncalibrated MEGB showed poorer calibration, but isotonic recalibration substantially improved it. After calibration, all models showed excellent agreement between predicted and observed risks. MEGB provided improved discrimination and comparable calibration relative to ME-LASSO and stepwise logistic regression. Replacing continuous birth weight with a binary macrosomia indicator resulted in minimal performance loss, suggesting it may suffice for clinical risk prediction across all three modeling approaches.