Prediction of Social Participation Factors Affecting the Quality of Life of Mothers with Children with PKU Using a Random Forest Model: A Cross-sectional Study in Hamadan, Iran, in ۲۰۱۸

AbstractBackground: Parents of children with chronic medical conditions, including those with phenylketonuria (PKU), face emotionalstress. In this study, we will focus mainly on the social relationships, social participation, and quality of life of mothers of childrenwith PKU using the random forest (RF) method.Method: In this cross-sectional study, data were collected from the Association for the Protection of PKU in Hamadan province.We utilized the RF method for data analysis using the packages “Metrics” and “random forest SRC” in R software (version ۳.۲.۲).Results: In total, ۲۰۱ mothers who had children with PKU were included in this study. More than half (۵۲.۲%) of the motherswere aged between ۱۸ and ۳۵ years. Based on the random forest method, the most important predictors of the social interactionsand social participation of mothers who had children with PKU were, in order, environmental health, social relationships, mentalhealth, physical health, income, the number of family members, educational status, mothers’ job status, and age of mothers.Conclusion: The first four variables (environmental health, social relationships, mental health, and physical health) were the mosteffective predictors.

Keywords:

Random forest , Phenyl ketonuria , mental health