Machine Learning Techniques for Predicting Drug-Related Side Effects: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Background: Drug safety relies on advanced methods for timely and accurate prediction of side effects. To tackle this requirement, this scoping review examines machine-learning approaches for predicting drug-related side effects with a particular focus on chemical, biological, and phenotypical features. Methods: This was a scoping review in which a comprehensive search was conducted in various databases from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2023. Results: The results showed the widespread use of Random Forest, k-nearest neighbor, and support vector machine algorithms. Ensemble methods, particularly random forest, emphasized the significance of integrating chemical and biological features in predicting drug-related side effects. Conclusions: This review article emphasized the significance of considering a variety of features, datasets, and machine learning algorithms for predicting drug-related side effects. Ensemble methods and Random Forest showed the best performance and combining chemical and biological features improved prediction. The results suggested that machine learning techniques have some potential to improve drug development and trials. Future work should focus on specific feature types, selection techniques, and graph-based methods for even better prediction.