Neurocognitive clusters: A pilot study of young people with affective disorders in an inpatient facility

Prevalence of cognitive impairments and strengths in the early course of psychosis and depression

BACKGROUND

Studies investigating cognitive impairments in psychosis and depression have typically compared the average performance of the clinical group against healthy controls (HC), and do not report on the actual prevalence of cognitive impairments or strengths within these clinical groups. This information is essential so that clinical services can provide adequate resources to supporting cognitive functioning. Thus, we investigated this prevalence in individuals in the early course of psychosis or depression.

METHODS

A comprehensive cognitive test battery comprising 12 tests was completed by 1286 individuals aged 15-41 (mean age 25.07, s.d. 5.88) from the PRONIA study at baseline: HC (N = 454), clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR; N = 270), recent-onset depression (ROD; N = 267), and recent-onset psychosis (ROP; N = 295). Z-scores were calculated to estimate the prevalence of moderate or severe deficits or strengths (>2 s.d. or 1-2 s.d. below or above HC, respectively) for each cognitive test.

RESULTS

Impairment in at least two cognitive tests was as follows: ROP (88.3% moderately, 45.1% severely impaired), CHR (71.2% moderately, 22.4% severely impaired), ROD (61.6% moderately, 16.2% severely impaired). Across clinical groups, impairments were most prevalent in tests of working memory, processing speed, and verbal learning. Above average performance (>1 s.d.) in at least two tests was present for 40.5% ROD, 36.1% CHR, 16.1% ROP, and was >2 SDs in 1.8% ROD, 1.4% CHR, and 0% ROP.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings suggest that interventions should be tailored to the individual, with working memory, processing speed, and verbal learning likely to be important transdiagnostic targets.

Protocol for a young adult mental health (Uspace) cohort: personalising multidimensional care in young people admitted to hospital

INTRODUCTION

Currently, the literature on personalised and measurement-based mental healthcare is inadequate with major gaps in the development and evaluation of 21st century service models. Clinical presentations of mental ill health in young people are heterogeneous, and clinical and functional outcomes are often suboptimal. Thus, treatments provided in a person-centred and responsive fashion are critical to meet the unique needs of young people and improve individual outcomes. Personalised care also requires concurrent assessment of factors relating to outcomes and underlying neurobiology. This study builds on a completed feasibility study and will be the first to incorporate clinical, cognitive, circadian, metabolic and hormonal profiling with personalised and measurement-based care in a cohort of young people admitted to hospital.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

This prospective, transdiagnostic, observational study will be offered to all young people between the ages of 16 and 30 years admitted to the inpatient unit of the participating centre. In total, 400 participants will be recruited. On admission to hospital, young people will undergo clinical and diagnostic assessment, cognitive testing, self-report questionnaires, metabolic and hormonal data collection, and anthropomorphic measurements. Participants will wear an actigraphy watch for at least 1 week during admission to measure circadian patterns and sleep-wake cycles. A feedback session between clinician and participant will occur after clinical and other laboratory assessments to tailor individual treatment plans, explain the ongoing process of measurement-based care, and provide participant and family education. Associations between cognitive impairments, disturbed sleep-wake behaviours, circadian rhythms, clinical symptoms and functional impairments will be evaluated to improve the understanding of parameters affecting clinical outcomes.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

This study protocol was approved by the Human Research Ethics Committees of the University of Sydney (HREC USYD 2015/867) and St Vincent's Hospital (HREC SVH 17/045). This study will be published on completion in a peer-reviewed journal.

Expanding the search for emerging mental ill health to safeguard student potential and vocational success in high school: A narrative review

AIM

Young people experiencing mental ill health are more likely than their healthy aged peers to drop out of high school. This can result in social exclusion and vocational derailment. Identifying young people at risk and taking action before an illness is established or school dropout occurs is an important goal. This study aimed to examine evidence for the risk markers and at risk mental states of the clinical staging model (stage 0-1b) and whether these risk states and early symptoms impact school participation and academic attainment.

METHOD

This narrative review assembles research from both the psychiatry and education literature. It examines stage 0 to stage 1b of the clinical staging model and links the risk states and early symptoms to evidence about the academic success of young people in high school.

RESULTS

In accordance with the clinical staging model and evidence from education literature, childhood trauma and parental mental illness can impact school engagement and academic progress. Sleep disturbance can result in academic failure. Undifferentiated depression and anxiety can increase the risk for school dropout. Subthreshold psychosis and hypomanic states are associated with functional impairment and high rates of Not in Employment, Education, or Training (NEET) but are not recognized in the education literature.

CONCLUSION

Risk markers for emerging mental ill health can be identified in education research and demonstrate an impact on a student's success in high school. Clear referral protocols need to be embedded into school life to reduce risk of progression to later stages of illness and support school participation and success.

Youth Mental Health Tracker: protocol to establish a longitudinal cohort and research database for young people attending Australian mental health services

INTRODUCTION

Mental disorders are a leading cause of long-term disability worldwide. Much of the burden of mental ill-health is mediated by early onset, comorbidities with physical health conditions and chronicity of the illnesses. This study aims to track the early period of mental disorders among young people presenting to Australian mental health services to facilitate more streamlined transdiagnostic processes, highly personalised and measurement-based care, secondary prevention and enhanced long-term outcomes.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

Recruitment to this large-scale, multisite, prospective, transdiagnostic, longitudinal clinical cohort study ('Youth Mental Health Tracker') will be offered to all young people between the ages of 12 and 30 years presenting to participating services with proficiency in English and no history of intellectual disability. Young people will be tracked over 3 years with standardised assessments at baseline and 3, 6, 12, 24 and 36 months. Assessments will include self-report and clinician-administered measures, covering five key domains including: (1) social and occupational function; (2) self-harm, suicidal thoughts and behaviour; (3) alcohol or other substance misuse; (4) physical health; and (5) illness type, clinical stage and trajectory. Data collection will be facilitated by the use of health information technology. The data will be used to: (1) determine prospectively the course of multidimensional functional outcomes, based on the differential impact of demographics, medication, psychological interventions and other key potentially modifiable moderator variables and (2) map pathophysiological mechanisms and clinical illness trajectories to determine transition rates of young people to more severe illness forms.

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

The study has been reviewed and approved by the Human Research Ethics Committee of the Sydney Local Health District (2019/ETH00469). All data will be non-identifiable, and research findings will be disseminated through peer-reviewed journals and scientific conference presentations.

Neurocognitive heterogeneity across the spectrum of psychopathology: need for improved approaches to deficit detection and intervention

Neurocognition is one of the strongest predictors of clinical and functional outcomes across the spectrum of psychopathology, yet there remains a dearth of unified neurocognitive nosology and available neurocognition-targeted interventions. Neurocognitive deficits manifest in a transdiagnostic manner, with no psychiatric disorder uniquely affiliated with one specific deficit. In fact, recent research has identified that essentially all investigated disorders are comprised of 3-4 neurocognitive profiles. This within-disorder neurocognitive heterogeneity has hampered the development of novel, neurocognition-targeted interventions, as only a portion of patients with any given disorder possess neurocognitive deficits that would warrant neurocognitive intervention. The development of criteria and terminology to characterize these neurocognitive deficit syndromes would provide clinicians with the opportunity to more systematically identify and treat their patients and provide researchers the opportunity to develop neurocognition-targeted interventions for patients. This perspective will summarize recent work and discuss possible approaches for neurocognition-focused diagnosis and treatment in psychiatry.

New Evidences about Subjective Well-Being in Adolescence and Its Links with Neurocognitive Performance

The main purpose of the present work was to study the neurocognitive endophenotypes of adolescents at risk for low personal wellbeing. The sample included a total of 1588 adolescents from stratified random cluster sampling; derived from this sample, a group of high-risk (n = 84) and a control group (n = 84) were selected. The personal well-being index–school children (PWI–SC), the University of Pennsylvania computerized neuropsychological test battery for children (included 14 tasks assessing five neurobehavioral domains: executive functions, episodic memory, complex cognition, social cognition and sensorimotor speed), and the strengths and difficulties questionnaire (SDQ) were used. Adolescents with low personal wellbeing showed statistically significant impairments across the different neurocognitive domains. In particular, adolescents at risk showed lower accuracy scores on executive function and complex cognition and lower speed scores on episodic memory, complex cognition and social cognition scores. The results of the present study contribute relevant information about the nature of neurocognitive impairments associated with subjective wellbeing and allow implementing preventive treatments.

Right care, first time: a highly personalised and measurement-based care model to manage youth mental health

Mood and psychotic syndromes most often emerge during adolescence and young adulthood, a period characterised by major physical and social change. Consequently, the effects of adolescent-onset mood and psychotic syndromes can have long term consequences. A key clinical challenge for youth mental health is to develop and test new systems that align with current evidence for comorbid presentations and underlying neurobiology, and are useful for predicting outcomes and guiding decisions regarding the provision of appropriate and effective care. Our highly personalised and measurement-based care model includes three core concepts: ▶ A multidimensional assessment and outcomes framework that includes: social and occupational function; self-harm, suicidal thoughts and behaviour; alcohol or other substance misuse; physical health; and illness trajectory. ▶ Clinical stage. ▶ Three common illness subtypes (psychosis, anxious depression, bipolar spectrum) based on proposed pathophysiological mechanisms (neurodevelopmental, hyperarousal, circadian). The model explicitly aims to prevent progression to more complex and severe forms of illness and is better aligned to contemporary models of the patterns of emergence of psychopathology. Inherent within this highly personalised approach is the incorporation of other evidence-based processes, including real-time measurement-based care as well as utilisation of multidisciplinary teams of health professionals. Data-driven local system modelling and personalised health information technologies provide crucial infrastructure support to these processes for better access to, and higher quality, mental health care for young people. CHAPTER 1: MULTIDIMENSIONAL OUTCOMES IN YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH CARE: WHAT MATTERS AND WHY?: Mood and psychotic syndromes present one of the most serious public health challenges that we face in the 21st century. Factors including prevalence, age of onset, and chronicity contribute to substantial burden and secondary risks such as alcohol or other substance misuse. Mood and psychotic syndromes most often emerge during adolescence and young adulthood, a period characterised by major physical and social change; thus, effects can have long term consequences. We propose five key domains which make up a multidimensional outcomes framework that aims to address the specific needs of young people presenting to health services with emerging mental illness. These include social and occupational function; self-harm, suicidal thoughts and behaviours; alcohol or other substance misuse; physical health; and illness type, stage and trajectory. Impairment and concurrent morbidity are well established in young people by the time they present for mental health care. Despite this, services and health professionals tend to focus on only one aspect of the presentation - illness type, stage and trajectory - and are often at odds with the preferences of young people and their families. There is a need to address the disconnect between mental health, physical health and social services and interventions, to ensure that youth mental health care focuses on the outcomes that matter to young people. CHAPTER 2: COMBINING CLINICAL STAGE AND PATHOPHYSIOLOGICAL MECHANISMS TO UNDERSTAND ILLNESS TRAJECTORIES IN YOUNG PEOPLE WITH EMERGING MOOD AND PSYCHOTIC SYNDROMES: Traditional diagnostic classification systems for mental disorders map poorly onto the early stages of illness experienced by young people, and purport categorical distinctions that are not readily supported by research into genetic, environmental and neurobiological risk factors. Consequently, a key clinical challenge in youth mental health is to develop and test new classification systems that align with current evidence on comorbid presentations, are consistent with current understanding of underlying neurobiology, and provide utility for predicting outcomes and guiding decisions regarding the provision of appropriate and effective care. This chapter outlines a transdiagnostic framework for classifying common adolescent-onset mood and psychotic syndromes, combining two independent but complementary dimensions: clinical staging, and three proposed pathophysiological mechanisms. Clinical staging reflects the progression of mental disorders and is in line with the concept used in general medicine, where more advanced stages are associated with a poorer prognosis and a need for more intensive interventions with a higher risk-to-benefit ratio. The three proposed pathophysiological mechanisms are neurodevelopmental abnormalities, hyperarousal and circadian dysfunction, which, over time, have illness trajectories (or pathways) to psychosis, anxious depression and bipolar spectrum disorders, respectively. The transdiagnostic framework has been evaluated in young people presenting to youth mental health clinics of the University of Sydney's Brain and Mind Centre, alongside a range of clinical and objective measures. Our research to date provides support for this framework, and we are now exploring its application to the development of more personalised models of care. CHAPTER 3: A COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORK FOR YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH: GUIDING HIGHLY PERSONALISED AND MEASUREMENT-BASED CARE USING MULTIDIMENSIONAL AND OBJECTIVE MEASURES: There is an urgent need for improved care for young people with mental health problems, in particular those with subthreshold mental disorders that are not sufficiently severe to meet traditional diagnostic criteria. New comprehensive assessment frameworks are needed to capture the biopsychosocial profile of a young person to drive highly personalised and measurement-based mental health care. We present a range of multidimensional measures involving five key domains: social and occupational function; self-harm, suicidal thoughts and behaviours; alcohol or other substance misuse; physical health; and illness type, stage and trajectory. Objective measures include: neuropsychological function; sleep-wake behaviours and circadian rhythms; metabolic and immune markers; and brain structure and function. The recommended multidimensional measures facilitate the development of a comprehensive clinical picture. The objective measures help to further develop informative and novel insights into underlying pathophysiological mechanisms and illness trajectories to guide personalised care plans. A panel of specific multidimensional and objective measures are recommended as standard clinical practice, while others are recommended secondarily to provide deeper insights with the aim of revealing alternative clinical paths for targeted interventions and treatments matched to the clinical stage and proposed pathophysiological mechanisms of the young person. CHAPTER 4: PERSONALISING CARE OPTIONS IN YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH: USING MULTIDIMENSIONAL ASSESSMENT, CLINICAL STAGE, PATHOPHYSIOLOGICAL MECHANISMS, AND INDIVIDUAL ILLNESS TRAJECTORIES TO GUIDE TREATMENT SELECTION: New models of mental health care for young people require that interventions be matched to illness type, clinical stage, underlying pathophysiological mechanisms and individual illness trajectories. Narrow syndrome-focused classifications often direct clinical attention away from other key factors such as functional impairment, self-harm and suicidality, alcohol or other substance misuse, and poor physical health. By contrast, we outline a treatment selection guide for early intervention for adolescent-onset mood and psychotic syndromes (ie, active treatments and indicated and more specific secondary prevention strategies). This guide is based on experiences with the Brain and Mind Centre's highly personalised and measurement-based care model to manage youth mental health. The model incorporates three complementary core concepts: ▶A multidimensional assessment and outcomes framework including: social and occupational function; self-harm, suicidal thoughts and behaviours; alcohol or other substance misuse; physical health; and illness trajectory. ▶Clinical stage. ▶Three common illness subtypes (psychosis, anxious depression, bipolar spectrum) based on three underlying pathophysiological mechanisms (neurodevelopmental, hyperarousal, circadian). These core concepts are not mutually exclusive and together may facilitate improved outcomes through a clinical stage-appropriate and transdiagnostic framework that helps guide decisions regarding the provision of appropriate and effective care options. Given its emphasis on adolescent-onset mood and psychotic syndromes, the Brain and Mind Centre's model of care also respects a fundamental developmental perspective - categorising childhood problems (eg, anxiety and neurodevelopmental difficulties) as risk factors and respecting the fact that young people are in a period of major biological and social transition. Based on these factors, a range of social, psychological and pharmacological interventions are recommended, with an emphasis on balancing the personal benefit-to-cost ratio. CHAPTER 5: A SERVICE DELIVERY MODEL TO SUPPORT HIGHLY PERSONALISED AND MEASUREMENT-BASED CARE IN YOUTH MENTAL HEALTH: Over the past decade, we have seen a growing focus on creating mental health service delivery models that better meet the unique needs of young Australians. Recent policy directives from the Australian Government recommend the adoption of stepped-care services to improve the appropriateness of care, determined by severity of need. Here, we propose that a highly personalised approach enhances stepped-care models by incorporating clinical staging and a young person's current and multidimensional needs. It explicitly aims to prevent progression to more complex and severe forms of illness and is better aligned to contemporary models of the patterns of emergence of psychopathology. Inherent within a highly personalised approach is the incorporation of other evidence-based processes, including real-time measurement-based care and use of multidisciplinary teams of health professionals. Data-driven local system modelling and personalised health information technologies provide crucial infrastructure support to these processes for better access to, and higher quality of, mental health care for young people.

Involving End Users in Adapting a Spanish Version of a Web-Based Mental Health Clinic for Young People in Colombia: Exploratory Study Using Participatory Design Methodologies

BACKGROUND

Health information technologies (HITs) hold enormous promise for improving access to and providing better quality of mental health care. However, despite the spread of such technologies in high-income countries, these technologies have not yet been commonly adopted in low- and middle-income countries. People living in these parts of the world are at risk of experiencing physical, technological, and social health inequalities. A possible solution is to utilize the currently available HITs developed in other counties.

OBJECTIVE

Using participatory design methodologies with Colombian end users (young people, their supportive others, and health professionals), this study aimed to conduct co-design workshops to culturally adapt a Web-based Mental Health eClinic (MHeC) for young people, perform one-on-one user-testing sessions to evaluate an alpha prototype of a Spanish version of the MHeC and adapt it to the Colombian context, and inform the development of a skeletal framework and alpha prototype for a Colombian version of the MHeC (MHeC-C).

METHODS

This study involved the utilization of a research and development (R&D) cycle including 4 iterative phases: co-design workshops; knowledge translation; tailoring to language, culture, and place (or context); and one-on-one user-testing sessions.

RESULTS

A total of 2 co-design workshops were held with 18 users-young people (n=7) and health professionals (n=11). Moreover, 10 users participated in one-on-one user-testing sessions-young people (n=5), supportive others (n=2), and health professionals (n=3). A total of 204 source documents were collected and 605 annotations were coded. A thematic analysis resulted in 6 themes (ie, opinions about the MHeC-C, Colombian context, functionality, content, user interface, and technology platforms). Participants liked the idea of having an MHeC designed and adapted for Colombian young people, and its 5 key elements were acceptable in this context (home page and triage system, self-report assessment, dashboard of results, booking and video-visit system, and personalized well-being plan). However, to be relevant in Colombia, participants stressed the need to develop additional functionality (eg, phone network backup; chat; geolocation; and integration with electronic medical records, apps, or electronic tools) as well as an adaptation of the self-report assessment. Importantly, the latter not only included language but also culture and context.

CONCLUSIONS

The application of an R&D cycle that also included processes for adaptation to Colombia (language, culture, and context) resulted in the development of an evidence-based, language-appropriate, culturally sensitive, and context-adapted HIT that is relevant, applicable, engaging, and usable in both the short and long term. The resultant R&D cycle allowed for the adaptation of an already available HIT (ie, MHeC) to the MHeC-C-a low-cost and scalable technology solution for low- and middle-income countries like Colombia, which has the potential to provide young people with accessible, available, affordable, and integrated mental health care at the right time.

The genetic relationship between educational attainment and cognitive performance in major psychiatric disorders

Cognitive deficits are a core feature of psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Evidence supports a genome-wide polygenic score (GPS) for educational attainment (GPSEDU) can be used to explain variability in cognitive performance. We aimed to identify different cognitive domains associated with GPSEDU in a transdiagnostic clinical cohort of chronic psychiatric patients with known cognitive deficits. Bipolar and schizophrenia patients from the PsyCourse cohort (N = 730; 43% female) were used. Likewise, we tested whether GPSs for schizophrenia (GPSSZ) and bipolar disorder (GPSBD) were associated with cognitive outcomes. GPSEDU explained 1.5% of variance in the backward verbal digit span, 1.9% in the number of correctly recalled words of the Verbal Learning and Memory Test, and 1.1% in crystallized intelligence. These effects were robust to the influences of treatment and diagnosis. No significant associations between GPSSZ or GPSBD with cognitive outcomes were found. Furthermore, these risk scores did not confound the effect of GPSEDU on cognitive outcomes. GPSEDU explains a small fraction of cognitive performance in adults with psychiatric disorders, specifically for domains related to linguistic learning and working memory. Investigating such a proxy-phenotype longitudinally, could give intriguing insight into the disease course, highlighting at what time genes play a more influential role on cognitive performance. Better understanding the origin of these deficits might help identify those patients at risk for lower levels of functioning and poor social outcomes. Polygenic estimates may in the future be part of predictive models for more personalized interventions.

Developing neurocognitive standard clinical care: A study of young adult inpatients

Neuropsychological assessments have provided the field of psychiatry with important information about patients. As an assessment tool, a neuropsychological battery can be useful in a clinical setting; however, implementation as standard clinical care in an inpatient unit has not been extensively evaluated. A computerized cognitive battery was administered to 103 current young adult inpatients (19.2 ± 3.1 years; 72% female) with affective disorder. Neurocognitive tasks included Verbal Recognition Memory (VRM), Attention Switching (AST), Paired Association Learning (PAL), and Rapid Visual Processing (RVP). Patients also completed a computerized self-report questionnaire evaluating subjective impressions of their cognition. Hierarchical cluster analysis determined three neurocognitive subgroups: cluster 1 (n = 17) showed a more impaired neurocognitive profile on three of the four variables compared to their peers in cluster 2 (n = 59), and cluster 3 (n = 27), who had the most impaired attentional shifting. Two of the four neurocognitive variables were significantly different between all three cluster groups (verbal learning and sustained attention). Overall group results showed an association between poorer sustained attention and increased suicidal ideation. These findings strengthen the idea that neurocognitive profiles may play an important role in better understanding the severity of illness in young inpatients with major psychiatric disorders.