Clustering-Based Data Mining for Healthcare Decision Support Systems: A Systematic Review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.63158/journalisi.v8i5.1801Keywords:
Healthcare Decision Support Systems, Clustering, Unsupervised Learning, Systematic Review, PRISMA 2020Abstract
Clustering can organize heterogeneous healthcare data into clinically or operationally meaningful groups, but evidence of real decision-support use remains uneven. This systematic review examines healthcare domains, data types, clustering methods, validation practices, and implementation gaps in clustering-based Healthcare Decision Support Systems (DSS). Following PRISMA 2020, Scopus records published from 2015 to 2025 were screened using predefined eligibility criteria. Eighty-four records were identified; 36 remained after the open-access filter, 19 full-text reports were assessed, and 10 primary empirical studies were included. The studies covered fraud auditing, ICU profiling, chronic-disease risk and transition analysis, gestational-diabetes support, trauma pathways, radiology text, patient segmentation, and smart-home activity recognition. K-Means was the most frequently reported method, followed by Markov-based approaches, while other clustering techniques appeared less often. Most studies relied on retrospective, internal, or expert-based validation; only one reported prospective evaluation of a deployed web-based clinical DSS. Overall, clustering shows clear analytical value, but evidence for routine clinical deployment and patient-outcome improvement remains limited.
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