Risk stratification of new-onset psychiatric disorders using clinically distinct traumatic brain injury phenotypes

Patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) constitute a highly heterogeneous population, with varying risks for New-onset Psychiatric Disorders (NPDs). The objectives of this study were to identify TBI phenotypes and determine how NPDs differ among these phenotypes.

Hospitalized TBI patients from 2003 to 2019 were obtained from the provincial trauma registry. Propensity score matching was conducted to balance covariates among patients with TBI and controls. To uncover heterogeneity in TBI, latent class analysis (LCA)-based clustering was applied. LCA was conducted separately for two TBI cohorts: those with and without pre-injury psychiatric conditions The effect of classes on NPDs was assessed using log binomial regression models.

A total of 3,453 patients with TBI and 13,112 controls were included in the analysis. In a conditional regression involving propensity matched patients with TBI and controls, TBI was significantly associated with the development of NPD-A (OR: 2.78; 95% CI: 2.49-3.09), as well as NPD-P (OR: 2.36; 95% CI: 2.07-2.70). Eight distinct latent classes were identified which differed in the incidence of NPDs. Four classes displayed a 53% (RR:1.53; 95% CI: 1.31-1.78), 48% (RR:1.48; 95% CI: 1.26-1.74), 28% (RR:1.28; 95% CI: 1.08-1.54), and 20% (RR: 1.20, 95%CI: 1.03-1.39), increased NPD risk.

TBI is a significant predictor of NPDs. There are clinically distinguishable phenotypes with different patterns of NPD risk among patients with TBI. Identifying individuals with respect to their phenotype may improve risk stratification of patients with TBI and promote early intervention for psychiatric care in this vulnerable population.