Portland-based Oregon Health and Science University researchers have received a $16.4 million, five-year grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to help with child mental health diagnoses and outcomes.
OHSU Center for Mental Health Innovation experts have utilized machine learning for more than a decade to create advanced computational models that can help clinical prediction of mental health conditions like anxiety, ADHD, substance use disorder and depression in childhood and adolescents.
The fund will help the experts transfer their research algorithms to a clinical setting to "determine the real-world effects they may have on clinical decisions and mental health outcomes," according to a May 23 OHSU news release.
The National Institute of Mental Health will also use the grant to fund additional sites that look into data-driven approaches for various population's mental health. OHSU is one of a couple sites that will investigate children and adolescents specifically.
Prediction models in the lab will be optimized by researchers through leveraging national research, OHSU-developed research cohorts and medical databases. The models feature patient observable traits including cognitive measures like executive function and working memory, temperament, environmental factors, and mental health characteristics.
Collaborating site clinics, like Seattle Children's Hospital, Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind., and Boston-based Massachusetts General Hospital, will collect the model predictors, with hopes to enroll 7,500 patients from ages 7 to 17, the release said.
The data collected at the clinics will help the research team look at how frequently high-confidence predictions can be made, how often more assessments are needed and the overall accuracy and added value of the models. Should this be successful, the models would be available for clinical use to develop cost-effective solutions to be adopted by health systems.