PROJECT SUMMARY
Clinical predictors are now firmly incorporated into routine standard-of-care in many fields of medicine, in contrast
with Psychiatry where quantitative predictors that guide clinical decision-making remain extremely
limited. Psychosis-related disorders are responsible for a substantial public health burden, for which there are
significant unmet needs that would be subserved by clinical predictors. For example, long-term outcomes vary
widely and identifying individuals with poor or advantageous future outcomes would help to optimize treatment
planning and resource allocation. Furthermore, antipsychotics are associated with adverse side effects, such as
increased risk of diabetes. In this application, we propose to use machine learning approaches to build predictors
and identify subtypes of clinical outcomes among individuals with schizophrenia, through integration of
longitudinal electronic health records (EHRs), dimensional phenotyping, and genetic analyses. We will also
explore the psychosocial and ethical implications of psychiatric clinical predictors. Our long-term objective is to
advance the goals of Precision Psychiatry to achieve individualized treatment planning, outcome monitoring, and
preventive interventions. We propose the following specific aims: Aim 1: Leverage two independent EHR
databases for outcome prediction and sub-classification of psychosis-related disorders. (a) We will use
the longitudinal PSYCKES and MarketScan databases to build machine learning-based individual-level
prediction models to forecast the onset of four major prognostic outcomes: treatment response (antipsychotic
resistance), illness severity (long-term hospitalization), medical comorbidity (diabetes), and diagnostic transition
from a psychosis-related disorder to schizophrenia. (b) We will perform cohort-level analyses using unsupervised
methods to discover novel psychosis-related diagnosis and prognosis subtypes. Aim 2: Enhance predictive
modeling through dimensional phenotyping and whole genome sequencing. (a) We will recruit n = 10,000
patients with schizophrenia from the PSYCKES database population for enriched data collection: 1) dimensional
phenotyping (cognition, exposome, and social determinants of health), and 2) whole genome sequencing to
enable calling of rare variants, structural variants, and common variants (polygenic risk). (b) We will investigate
the extent to which dimensional phenotypes and genomic data can improve the models developed in Aim 1. Aim
3: Explore the psychosocial and ethical implications of psychiatric clinical predictors. (a) We will survey
a subset of patients and their clinicians regarding their attitudes towards implementation of clinical outcome
predictors. (b) We will return pathogenic findings to patients through genetic counseling and survey the
experience of patients and their clinicians on their emotional reactions and perceptions of impairment, treatability,
and life-planning.