Discovery of Comorbid Psychiatric Conditions among Youth Detainees in Juvenile Justice System using Clinical Data

Objective The main aim was to analyze the prevalence and patterns of comorbidity in 11 identified broad categories of psychiatric conditions and 48 specific psychiatric conditions among 613 youth from the Missouri Division of Youth Services (DYS) residential sites using advanced data mining techniques on clinical assessment data. Methods This study was based on youth detainee population at DYS residential placements receiving psychiatric care through the telemedicine network established between DYS and University of Missouri Department of Psychiatry. Association Rule Mining (ARM) algorithm was used to determine the associations and the co-occurrence pattern among the comorbid psychiatric conditions. Results About 88% of the DYS youth are diagnosed with two or more psychiatric disorders. From the ARM analysis, the most commonly co-occurred disorders are obtained as substance-related or -addicted disorders (SUD) and disruptive, impulse-control, and conduct disorders (CD) (n [%] = 258 [42.1%], followed by SUD, CD, and depressive disorder (DD) (145 [23.7%]), SUD, CD, and neurodevelopmental disorder (NDD) (133 [21.7%]), and DD, CD and NDD (120 [19.6%]). Discussion The study found high prevalence of comorbidity among the youth patients of the Missouri DYS facilities receiving care through the University of Missouri telemedicine network. The ideal scenario for assessment of any of these disorders in a patient should include substantial consideration in delineating the symptoms and history before eliminating any of them. Conclusion The comorbid patterns obtained can help in determining treatment regimens for DYS youth that can be effective in reducing recidivism and delinquency.