Research Article

MACHINE LEARNING-BASED OBJECTIVE ESTIMATION OF SPINAL PAIN INTENSITY ON THE VISUAL ANALOG SCALE

Volume: 14 Number: 2 June 30, 2026
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MACHINE LEARNING-BASED OBJECTIVE ESTIMATION OF SPINAL PAIN INTENSITY ON THE VISUAL ANALOG SCALE

Abstract

The Visual Analog Scale (VAS) is widely used for assessing pain intensity in clinical practice; however, its subjective nature and limited scoring range may cause patient-related biases. This study aims to predict the error margin in pain severity estimation using the VAS through a machine learning-based model. Clinical data from 174 patients with chronic spinal pain were analyzed. Objective parameters including spinal function index (SFI), age, gender, and body mass index (BMI) were used as inputs for model training. Five machine learning algorithms; Gradient Boosting, XGBoost, AdaBoost, Support Vector Machine, and Random Forest were evaluated to estimate pain intensity at rest and during movement. The Gradient Boosting algorithm achieved the highest prediction accuracy of 83.50%, while AdaBoost showed the lowest accuracy at 67.90%. Comparison between predicted and patient-reported VAS values revealed estimation errors ranging from 16.5% to 32.1%. The findings suggest that machine learning-based approaches can provide a more objective and reliable method for pain intensity assessment, helping to reduce subjective bias in clinical evaluations.

Keywords

References

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Details

Primary Language

English

Subjects

Information Systems (Other)

Journal Section

Research Article

Publication Date

June 30, 2026

Submission Date

February 10, 2026

Acceptance Date

April 20, 2026

Published in Issue

Year 2026 Volume: 14 Number: 2

APA
Yıldız, Z., Başkurt, F., & Süzen, A. A. (2026). MACHINE LEARNING-BASED OBJECTIVE ESTIMATION OF SPINAL PAIN INTENSITY ON THE VISUAL ANALOG SCALE. Mühendislik Bilimleri Ve Tasarım Dergisi, 14(2), 371-385. https://doi.org/10.21923/jesd.1885987
AMA
1.Yıldız Z, Başkurt F, Süzen AA. MACHINE LEARNING-BASED OBJECTIVE ESTIMATION OF SPINAL PAIN INTENSITY ON THE VISUAL ANALOG SCALE. JESD. 2026;14(2):371-385. doi:10.21923/jesd.1885987
Chicago
Yıldız, Ziya, Ferdi Başkurt, and Ahmet Ali Süzen. 2026. “MACHINE LEARNING-BASED OBJECTIVE ESTIMATION OF SPINAL PAIN INTENSITY ON THE VISUAL ANALOG SCALE”. Mühendislik Bilimleri Ve Tasarım Dergisi 14 (2): 371-85. https://doi.org/10.21923/jesd.1885987.
EndNote
Yıldız Z, Başkurt F, Süzen AA (June 1, 2026) MACHINE LEARNING-BASED OBJECTIVE ESTIMATION OF SPINAL PAIN INTENSITY ON THE VISUAL ANALOG SCALE. Mühendislik Bilimleri ve Tasarım Dergisi 14 2 371–385.
IEEE
[1]Z. Yıldız, F. Başkurt, and A. A. Süzen, “MACHINE LEARNING-BASED OBJECTIVE ESTIMATION OF SPINAL PAIN INTENSITY ON THE VISUAL ANALOG SCALE”, JESD, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 371–385, June 2026, doi: 10.21923/jesd.1885987.
ISNAD
Yıldız, Ziya - Başkurt, Ferdi - Süzen, Ahmet Ali. “MACHINE LEARNING-BASED OBJECTIVE ESTIMATION OF SPINAL PAIN INTENSITY ON THE VISUAL ANALOG SCALE”. Mühendislik Bilimleri ve Tasarım Dergisi 14/2 (June 1, 2026): 371-385. https://doi.org/10.21923/jesd.1885987.
JAMA
1.Yıldız Z, Başkurt F, Süzen AA. MACHINE LEARNING-BASED OBJECTIVE ESTIMATION OF SPINAL PAIN INTENSITY ON THE VISUAL ANALOG SCALE. JESD. 2026;14:371–385.
MLA
Yıldız, Ziya, et al. “MACHINE LEARNING-BASED OBJECTIVE ESTIMATION OF SPINAL PAIN INTENSITY ON THE VISUAL ANALOG SCALE”. Mühendislik Bilimleri Ve Tasarım Dergisi, vol. 14, no. 2, June 2026, pp. 371-85, doi:10.21923/jesd.1885987.
Vancouver
1.Ziya Yıldız, Ferdi Başkurt, Ahmet Ali Süzen. MACHINE LEARNING-BASED OBJECTIVE ESTIMATION OF SPINAL PAIN INTENSITY ON THE VISUAL ANALOG SCALE. JESD. 2026 Jun. 1;14(2):371-85. doi:10.21923/jesd.1885987