Performance of Artificial Intelligence Imaging Models in Detecting Dermatological Manifestations in Higher Fitzpatrick Skin Color Classifications

Background The performance of deep-learning image recognition models is below par when applied to images with Fitzpatrick classification skin types 4 and 5. Objective The objective of this research was to assess whether image recognition models perform differently when differentiating between dermatological diseases in individuals with darker skin color (Fitzpatrick skin types 4 and 5) than when differentiating between the same dermatological diseases in Caucasians (Fitzpatrick skin types 1, 2, and 3) when both models are trained on the same number of images. Methods Two image recognition models were trained, validated, and tested. The goal of each model was to differentiate between melanoma and basal cell carcinoma. Open-source images of melanoma and basal cell carcinoma were acquired from the Hellenic Dermatological Atlas, the Dermatology Atlas, the Interactive Dermatology Atlas, and DermNet NZ. Results The image recognition models trained and validated on images with light skin color had higher sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and F1 score than the image recognition models trained and validated on images of skin of color for differentiation between melanoma and basal cell carcinoma. Conclusions A higher number of images of dermatological diseases in individuals with darker skin color than images of dermatological diseases in individuals with light skin color would need to be gathered for artificial intelligence models to perform equally well.