An association rule (AR) in this study is of the form A ⇒ B, where A (the left-hand-side or the antecedent) and B (the right-hand-side or the consequent) are disjoint sets of attribute-value pairs (AVPs), e.g.,
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The rule is valid for a case from the data set if all the AVPs from the rule hold true for the particular case. Support (SUPP) of a rule denotes the percentage of cases from the whole data set for which the rule is valid. Confidence (CONF) of a rule indicates the same but only within the subset of cases satisfying the antecedent of the rule. Lift of a rule indicates the ratio of the observed support of the rule and the expected support if the antecedent and the consequent were independent.
ARM is performed on the ECC data set featuring 341 cases and 36 categorical variables. A restriction that is imposed on the format of the generated rules is that the consequent of each rule contains a single AVP denoting either ECC presence or absence. The generated rules are ranked to facilitate the identification of relevant relationships between ECC and potential risk factors.