Machine learning vs. rule-based methods for document classification of electronic health records within mental health care—A systematic literature review

Natural Language Processing Journal, vol. 10, pp. 100129

Abstract

Document classification is a widely used task for analyzing mental healthcare texts. This systematic literature review focuses on the document classification of electronic health records in mental healthcare. Over the last decade, there has been a shift from rule-based to machine-learning methods. Despite this shift, no systematic comparison of these two approaches exists for mental healthcare applications. This review examines the evolution, applications, and performance of these methods over time. We find that for most of the last decade, rule-based methods have outperformed machine-learning approaches. However, with the development of more advanced machine-learning techniques, performance has improved. In particular, Transformer-based models enable machine learning approaches to outperform rule-based methods for the first time.

Authors 6

1. Emil Rijcken corresponding

   Utrecht University · Eindhoven University of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Information and Computing Sciences, Utrecht University, Princetonplein 5, Utrecht, 3584 CC, The Netherlands

   Jheronimus Academy of Data Science, Eindhoven University of Technology, Sint Janssingel 92, ’s-Hertogenbosch, 5211 DA, The Netherlands

2. Kalliopi Zervanou

   Utrecht University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Information and Computing Sciences, Utrecht University, Princetonplein 5, Utrecht, 3584 CC, The Netherlands

3. Pablo J. Mosteiro

   Utrecht University

   Affiliation as printed

   Department of Information and Computing Sciences, Utrecht University, Princetonplein 5, Utrecht, 3584 CC, The Netherlands

   Department of Methodology and Statistics, Utrecht University, Padualaan 14, Utrecht, 3584CH, The Netherlands

4. Floortje E. Scheepers

   University Medical Center Utrecht

   Affiliation as printed

   Psychiatry, University Medical Center Utrecht, Heidelberglaan 100, Utrecht, 3584 CS, The Netherlands

5. Marco René Spruit Aachen Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science Public Health and Primary Care

   Leiden University · Leiden University Medical Center

   Affiliation as printed

   Leiden Institute of Advanced Computer Science, Niels Bohrweg 1, Leiden, 2333 CA, The Netherlands

   Public Health & Primary Care, Leiden University Medical Center, Albinusdreef 2, Leiden, 2333 ZA, The Netherlands

6. Uzay Kaymak

   Eindhoven University of Technology

   Affiliation as printed

   Jheronimus Academy of Data Science, Eindhoven University of Technology, Sint Janssingel 92, ’s-Hertogenbosch, 5211 DA, The Netherlands