Data-Driven Subgrouping of Youths with Depression Reveals That Resilience is Associated with Higher Physical Functioning Despite High Symptom Burden in the Texas Youth Depression and Suicide Research Network

One common obstacle to the effective treatment of mental health disorders is the fact that multiple people with identical diagnoses might experience different combinations of symptoms. This study set out to define subgroups of depressed youth using PROMIS, a self-report scale covering domains of physical function/mobility, anxiety, depressive symptoms, fatigue, peer relationships, interference of pain on one's life, and pain intensity. By using a statistical technique called latent class analysis, the authors were able to separate the participants into four subgroups: 1.) youth with less severe depression and higher physical functioning; 2.) youth with more severe depression, higher pain, and lower physical functioning; 3.) youth with more severe depression and higher pain, but with higher physical functioning; 4.) youth with more severe depression, lower pain, and lower physical functioning. Importantly, subgroup 3 demonstrated higher resilience compared to subgroup 2, possibly contributing to the higher functioning found in these youth. Identifying existing subgroups of patients with the same diagnoses may allow us to learn more about the variability found in depression and help find ways to promote better functioning in depressed youth.