Analysis of big data for prediction of provider-initiated preterm birth and spontaneous premature deliveries and ranking the predictive features.

Purpose: High rate of preterm birth (birth before 37 weeks of gestation) in the world, its negative outcomes for pregnant women and newborns necessitate to predict preterm birth and identify its main risk factors. Premature deliveries have been divided into provider-initiated (with medical intervention for early terminating the pregnancy) and spontaneous preterm birth (without any intervention) categories in the previous studies. The main aim of this study is proposing methods for prediction of provider-initiated preterm birth and spontaneous premature deliveries and ranking the predictive features.