Development of a baseline battery to optimize depression treatment assignment in primary care: Balancing breadth and brevity
This study shows how a structured, data-driven development process can yield a scientifically robust baseline assessment battery capturing a broad range of candidate treatment moderators. The battery will undergo further refinement following the results of the OptimizeD trial, which will identify the subset of baseline characteristics that meaningfully predict differential treatment response. While not intended as an implementation-ready clinical tool, the development framework presented here may help guide other researchers conducting similar precision treatment studies, particularly in resource-constrained settings.
Authors
- Akanksha Shukla (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5455-9809)
- Arvind Singh Kushwah
- Anant Bhan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7456-535X)
- John A. Naslund (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6777-0104)
- Tyler J. VanderWeele (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6112-0239)
- Tamonud Modak (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0876-2881)
- Julia R Pozuelo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3058-0371)
- Yashika Parashar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6199-9987)
- Mohammad M. Herzallah (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7808-481X)
- Steven D. Hollon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5005-3862)
- Yashwant K. Mehra
- Michelle Melwyn Joel
- Mimansa Khanduri
- Varun Shende
- Alyssa Martinez
- Anuja Lahiri
- Karmel W. Choi
- Daisy R. Singla
- Rahul S.P. Singh
- Jordan W. Smoller
- Pim Cuijpers
- G. Sruthi
- Vikram Patel
- Abhijit Rozatkar
- Shubham Atal
- Azaz Khan
- Kathryn O'Neill
- Ronald C. Kessler
Institutions
- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (US)
- Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CA)
- Harvard University (US)
- University of the Witwatersrand (ZA)
- Vanderbilt University (US)
- Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute (CA)
- Al-Quds University (PS)
- Babeș-Bolyai University (RO)
- Massachusetts General Hospital (US)
- Mental Health Research Canada (CA)
- Sangath (IN)
- All India Institute of Medical Sciences Bhopal (IN)
- Harvard Global Health Institute (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Journal of Affective Disorders
- Published
- 2026-03-22
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2026.121674
- Primary Topic
- Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00