Comparison of machine learning algorithms to identify muscular atrophy and muscular dystrophy

Abstract

Muscular dystrophy is a genetic disorder characterized by progressive muscle weakness and degeneration, while muscular atrophy involves the loss of muscle tissue due to pathological conditions. Accurate differentiation between these neuromuscular disorders is critical for effective clinical diagnosis and treatment planning. This study presents a machine learning– based framework for classifying muscular dystrophy and muscular atrophy using surface electromyography (sEMG) signals. sEMG data were acquired and processed to extract informative features with low computational complexity. Several machine learning classifiers several techniques were used and assessed, such as random forest (RF), support vector machine (SVM), gradient boosting (GB), and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost). To further enhance classification performance, a novel ensemble learning approach combining multiple machine learning models was proposed. Experimental results exhibit that the suggested ensemble model completes significantly higher grouping accurateness and robustness compared to individual classifiers and existing methods reported in the literature. The results of this investigation indicate that ensemble-based machine learning techniques integrated with sEMG analysis provide a reliable and non-invasive diagnostic aid, with strong potential for early detection and improved clinical management of neuromuscular disorders.