Mapping of Transdiagnostic Neuropsychiatric Phenotypes Across Patients in Two General Hospitals

Background: Multidimensional transdiagnostic phenotyping systems are increasingly important to neuropsychiatric phenotyping, particularly in translational research settings. The relationship the National Institute of Mental Health's Research Domain Criteria multidimensional approach to psychopathology and nonpsychiatric diagnoses has not been studied at scale but is relevant to those caring for neuropsychiatric illness in medical and surgical settings. Methods: We applied the CQH Dimensional Phenotyper natural language processing tool to estimate National Institute of Mental Health's Research Domain Criteria domain-associated symptoms of individuals admitted to nonpsychiatric wards at each of 2 large academic general hospitals over an 8-year period. We compared patterns in individual domain symptom burden, as well as a new pooled unidimensional measure, by primary medical and surgical diagnosis. Results: Analysis included 227,243 patients from hospital 1 of whom 68,793 (30.3%) had a prior psychiatric history and 220,213 patients from hospital 2 of whom 50,818 (23.1%) had a prior psychiatric history. The distribution of Research Domain Criteria symptom burdens over primary diagnosis was similar across hospital sites and differed significantly across primary medical or surgical diagnosis. The effect of primary medical or surgical diagnosis was larger than that of prior psychiatric history on Research Domain Criteria symptom burden. Conclusion: Research Domain Criteria-based neuropsychiatric symptom burden estimated from general hospital patients' clinical documentation is more strongly associated with the primary hospital medical or surgical diagnosis than it is with the presence of a previous psychiatric history. The bidirectional role of psychiatric and somatic illness warrants further study through the lens of transdiagnostic phenotyping.

Automated summary

This study utilized a natural language processing tool to estimate Research Domain Criteria domain-associated symptoms in individuals admitted to nonpsychiatric wards at two large general hospitals. The results indicate that the burden of Research Domain Criteria symptoms is more strongly associated with the primary hospital medical or surgical diagnosis rather than with the presence of a previous psychiatric history. The bidirectional relationship between psychiatric and somatic illness warrants further investigation through the lens of transdiagnostic phenotyping.