Abstract:Objective To explore the value of data mining and model construction in predicting severe hand-foot-mouth disease (HFMD). Methods A retrospective analysis was performed on the clinical data of 838 children with HFMD treated in the Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from June 2016 to October 2017. SPSS Statistics 23.0 was used for data preprocessing and statistical analysis, while SPSS Modeler 18.0 was used for modeling and evaluation. The model parameters were configured to output classification tree model and assess predictive performance when the optimal algorithm was screened from all algorithms based on overall accuracy. Results C&R algorithm was finally determined to have better accuracy by the automatic classifier screening. The model included three explanatory variables: shock, vomiting and limb shaking. The prediction accuracy of the model was 91.17%, with the sensibility of 84.36% and the specificity of 96.25%. The area under the ROC curve was 0.903 (95% CI: 0.878, 0.927) (P < 0.05). Conclusions Decision tree model has some advantages in the prediction of hand, foot and mouth disease and has high prediction accuracy. The model has a supplementary value in clinical diagnosis and treatment of the disease.