CoxSE: Exploring the Potential of Self-Explaining Neural Networks with Cox Proportional Hazards Model for Survival Analysis

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Alabdallah, Abdallah, Hamed, Omar, Ohlsson, Mattias, Rögnvaldsson, Thorsteinn, Pashami, Sepideh
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Alabdallah, Abdallah
Hamed, Omar
Ohlsson, Mattias
Rögnvaldsson, Thorsteinn
Pashami, Sepideh
author_facet Alabdallah, Abdallah
Hamed, Omar
Ohlsson, Mattias
Rögnvaldsson, Thorsteinn
Pashami, Sepideh
contents The Cox Proportional Hazards (CPH) model has long been the preferred survival model for its explainability. However, to increase its predictive power beyond its linear log-risk, it was extended to utilize deep neural networks, sacrificing its explainability. In this work, we explore the potential of self-explaining neural networks (SENN) for survival analysis. We propose a new locally explainable Cox proportional hazards model, named CoxSE, by estimating a locally-linear log-hazard function using the SENN. We also propose a modification to the Neural additive (NAM) model, hybrid with SENN, named CoxSENAM, which enables the control of the stability and consistency of the generated explanations. Several experiments using synthetic and real datasets are presented, benchmarking CoxSE and CoxSENAM against a NAM-based model, a DeepSurv model explained with SHAP, and a linear CPH model. The results show that, unlike the NAM-based model, the SENN-based model can provide more stable and consistent explanations while maintaining the predictive power of the black-box model. The results also show that, due to their structural design, NAM-based models demonstrate better robustness to non-informative features. Among the models, the hybrid model exhibits the best robustness.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2407_13849
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle CoxSE: Exploring the Potential of Self-Explaining Neural Networks with Cox Proportional Hazards Model for Survival Analysis
Alabdallah, Abdallah
Hamed, Omar
Ohlsson, Mattias
Rögnvaldsson, Thorsteinn
Pashami, Sepideh
Machine Learning
I.2.6
The Cox Proportional Hazards (CPH) model has long been the preferred survival model for its explainability. However, to increase its predictive power beyond its linear log-risk, it was extended to utilize deep neural networks, sacrificing its explainability. In this work, we explore the potential of self-explaining neural networks (SENN) for survival analysis. We propose a new locally explainable Cox proportional hazards model, named CoxSE, by estimating a locally-linear log-hazard function using the SENN. We also propose a modification to the Neural additive (NAM) model, hybrid with SENN, named CoxSENAM, which enables the control of the stability and consistency of the generated explanations. Several experiments using synthetic and real datasets are presented, benchmarking CoxSE and CoxSENAM against a NAM-based model, a DeepSurv model explained with SHAP, and a linear CPH model. The results show that, unlike the NAM-based model, the SENN-based model can provide more stable and consistent explanations while maintaining the predictive power of the black-box model. The results also show that, due to their structural design, NAM-based models demonstrate better robustness to non-informative features. Among the models, the hybrid model exhibits the best robustness.
title CoxSE: Exploring the Potential of Self-Explaining Neural Networks with Cox Proportional Hazards Model for Survival Analysis
topic Machine Learning
I.2.6
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.13849