1.Association rules: Comorbid chronic diseases among the elderly
Uuganbayar O ; Purevdolgor L ; Ajnai L ; Javzmaa Ts ; Odgerel B ; Baasandorj Ch
Mongolian Journal of Health Sciences 2025;88(4):248-252
Background:
The aging of the world’s population will determine global health trends. According to the 2021 report of the
Capital City Health Department, the average life expectancy of the Mongolian population is 71.3 years (male 67.3, female
76.7), the difference between male and female life expectancy is 9.4 years, and elderly people aged 60 and over account
for 8.1% of the total population. The report also shows that 6.5% of all outpatient visits are for people aged 60-64, and 9%
are for people aged 65 and over, which means that they do not receive adequate health care services. Therefore, it is important to increase the access to and quality of health care services provided to the elderly in order to improve their health
and quality of life. Comorbidities that are common among the elderly are one of the pressing issues in the health sector.
Aim:
We aimed to study the prevalence and risk factors of multi-morbidities among older adults (aged sixty years and
over) in urban and rural areas.
Materials and Methods:
To accomplish our aim, we conducted 156 lifestyle related questionnaires and 18 health related
questionnaires among 720 older people in Ulaanbaatar city and rural areas, and created the database. Pearson correlation
coefficient was used to determine the relationship between the quantitative influence of factors using single and multi-factor linear (β-coefficient) and binary logistic regression (odds ratio, CI 95%) methods, and p value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. The Apriori algorithm in SPSS was used to determine the relationship between multiple
chronic diseases in the elderly people.
Results:
The prevalence of comorbidity was higher in urban areas (48.1%) and rural areas (51.9%), and ageing (urban
areas OR: 2.45, 95% CI: 0.9-6.2; rural areas OR: 6.35, 95% CI: 1.47-27.4, P<0.01) was a risk factor of multi-morbidities. Multimorbidity is defined as the presence of 2 or more chronic conditions, and 3, 4, and 5 chronic conditions were
co-occurred to older adults with chronic conditions, 28.7% (165). 11 common patterns of relationships in urban areas and
18 common patterns of relationships in rural areas (support (A→B)>3%, confidence (A→B)>30%, lift (A→B)>1) were
determined.
Conclusion
Multimorbidity was different in urban and rural areas, 11 common patterns in urban areas and 18 common
patterns in rural areas were determined. It has shown that the prevalence of multimorbidity was different in urban and
rural areas.
2.Comparision of Machine Learning Models for Adolescent’s Emotional and Behavioral Problems
Batnast G ; Akhyt T ; Javzmaa T ; Nyamdavaa U ; Bayarmaa V ; Purevdolgor L ; Ajnai L ; Enkh-Urel E ; Galbadrakh Ch ; Bat-Enkh O ; Baatarkhuu Ts
Mongolian Journal of Health Sciences 2025;86(2):116-120
Background:
Globally, an estimated 13% of adolescents aged 10–19 are affected by mental disorders. As of 2020, the
number of children under the age of 19 in Mongolia was reported to be 1,289,587, reflecting a 0.9% increase compared
to 2015. A 2013 study on adolescents found that 60.5% were categorized as mentally healthy, 30.5% exhibited emotional
and behavioral difficulties, and 9% were diagnosed with a mental disorder. A study conducted in Govi-Altai Province
between 2018 and 2019 reported that 58.6% of adolescents were classified as healthy, 36.1% experienced psychological
difficulties, and 5.2% were diagnosed with a mental disorder.
Internationally, adolescent mental health has been widely assessed using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire
(SDQ), with an increasing number of studies employing artificial intelligence-based predictive models. However, in Mongolia,
research utilizing artificial intelligence and machine learning for analyzing large-scale mental health data remains
limited. This gap underscores the need for the present study.
Aim:
Machine learning models were compared to determine adolescent emotional and behavioral problems using the
SDQ.
Materials and Methods:
Data was collected from teenagers, teachers, and parents in Govi-Altai Province, and the databases
were created for each group. The teenager database was divided into 10 folds by cross-validation, and the models
were developed using machine learning methods and evaluated using their performance measures. The results were
mainly analyzed using the Bayes model.
Results:
The teenagers have emotional and behavioral problems due to emotional and peer interactions, but they are at
risk of developing disorders due to hyperactivity and behavioral changes.
Conclusion
Comparing the model performance results with previous studies, Bayesian model accuracy decreased by
0.03, sensitivity decreased by 0.08, and specificity increased by 0.01. Also, the difference between the performance evaluation
metrics of the C50 and Bayesian models is very small, between 0.01 and 0.02. This shows that the performance of
the Bayesian method is good when the number of attributes in the database increases.
Compared to the results of the knowledge generated by the research, the participants are more likely to develop emotional
and behavioral disorders due to their peer relationship indicators, such as other children generally not liking them, getting
on better with adults, and due to emotional symptoms such as being unhappy and depressed.