Addressing Class Imbalance in Bayesian Classification Through Posterior Probability Adjustment

Biom J. 2024 Dec;66(8):e70004. doi: 10.1002/bimj.70004.

Abstract

Class imbalance is a known issue in classification tasks that can lead to predictive bias toward dominant classes. This paper introduces a novel straightforward Bayesian framework that adjusts posterior probabilities to counteract the bias introduced by imbalanced data sets. Instead of relying on the mean posterior distribution of class probabilities, we propose a method that scales the posterior probability of each class according to their representation in the training data.

Keywords: Bayesian modeling; classification; drug‐induced liver injury; imbalanced classes.

MeSH terms

  • Bayes Theorem*
  • Biometry* / methods
  • Humans
  • Probability*