Abstract Background Accurate assessment of kidney function is clinically important, but estimates of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) by regression are imprecise. Methods We hypothesized that ensemble learning could improve precision. A total of 1419 participants were enrolled, with 1002 in the development dataset and 417 in the external validation dataset. GFR was independently estimated from age, sex and serum creatinine using an artificial neural network (ANN), support vector machine (SVM), regression, and ensemble learning. GFR was measured by 99mTc-DTPA renal dynamic imaging calibrated with dual plasma sample 99mTc-DTPA GFR. Results Mean measured GFRs were 70.0 ml/min/1.73 m2 in the developmental and 53.4 ml/min/1.73 m2 in the external validation cohorts. In the external validation cohort, precision was better in the ensemble model of the ANN, SVM and regression equation (IQR = 13.5 ml/min/1.73 m2) than in the new regression model (IQR = 14.0 ml/min/1.73 m2, P 0.05 for all comparisons of the new regression equation and the other new models. Conclusions An ensemble learning model including three variables, the average ANN, SVM, and regression equation values, was more precise than the new regression model. A more complex ensemble learning strategy may further improve GFR estimates.
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