PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) – A team of researchers at Oregon Health & Science University received a $16 million grant to advance children’s mental health care using machine learning, the university announced.
Amid a “’new frontier’” in mental health care, researchers will use machine learning, or artificial intelligence, data to improve prediction, diagnosis, and treatment of mental health issues in kids and teens.
The university has used machine learning for over a decade to develop models to improve prediction of mental health conditions including ADHD, anxiety, depression, and substance use disorder.
These models can give insight on when the condition began, the severity, ideal treatments, and can lead to more effective mental health intervention and prevention efforts, according to Dr. Bonnie Nagel, OSHU School of Medicine professor of psychiatry and director of the Center for Mental Health Innovation.
The grant comes amid a global mental health crisis as half of the world’s population will experience a mental health issue at some point in their lives, OHSU said, citing a 2023 Harvard study.
The mental health crisis is most severe among youth, who are experiencing “unprecedented rises in mental health problems,” OHSU said.
In Oregon, 50,000 kids are living with a mental health condition, with many facing “extremely poor access to care,” according to OHSU.
Mental health challenges often persist and multiply with development, and can lead to poor long-term outcomes including incarceration, unemployment, substance use, early death due to suicide, accident, or physical health challenges, Nagel said.
According to OHSU, data science can help address the crisis.
“The reality is that our children are suffering, and their suffering has worsened over the past decade. We need to think outside of the box and challenge the systems and approaches we’ve previously relied on,” Dr. Joel Nigg, professor of psychiatry in the OHSU School of Medicine and co-director of the Center for Mental Health Innovation. “Twenty years ago, we didn’t have the computer power or scientific knowledge about psychopathology that we do now. This work is a very exciting step forward that harnesses the past two decades of scientific progress.”
“It will take time to see the effects of these data-driven approaches and novel clinical measures,” Nigg added. “But they have the potential to create significant impacts, including lowering health care costs, improving care efficiency and access, and most importantly, saving lives.”
As part of the grant, the National Institute of Mental Health will fund more data-driven approaches to mental health for various populations, OHSU said – noting the university is one of a few sites that will focus on children and teens.
“The power of data”
Researchers will use prediction models to study patients’ temperament, cognitive inattention, memory, and environmental factors such as proximity to health care or pollution exposure risk.
Working with other sites – including Seattle Children’s Hospital, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Purdue University — researchers aim to enroll 7,500 patients between seven and 17-years-old across different backgrounds.
The teams will analyze how often high-confidence prediction can be made, how often additional assessment is needed, and overall accuracy of the models. If effective, the new data-driven approach could be used as a cost-effective approach for health care systems to use.
“We consider this a formative grant in achieving the mission of the center, which is to advance scientific discoveries in mental health and rapidly translate those into real-world practices,” Nagel said. “It’s tremendously exciting to be taking that next step of bringing together science and clinical care. It represents a new frontier in how we approach mental health.”
