Sultan Lab for Mental Health Informatics
Principal Investigators
The Sultan Lab focuses on the interface of electronic databases, mental health, and substance use epidemiology, and evidence-based treatments for common mental health conditions.
Areas of Research Expertise
- Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
- The Sultan Lab has conducted multiple studies on ADHD. One of which measured the rate at which youths with ADHD were prescribed antipsychotic medication, and found that only half of these prescriptions were given with a potential clinical diagnostic rationale. In another study, our researchers quantified rates of mental health comorbidities in adolescents with ADHD, compared the risks of adverse behaviors among adolescents with and without ADHD, and found that youth with ADHD have an elevated risk for a range of adverse behaviors, including suicide attempts. Read more about ADHD here.
- Cannabis and vaping
- In a recent study, our team determined that Nondisordered Cannabis Use (NDCU; cannabis use below the DSM-5 disordered use diagnostic threshold) was significantly associated with adverse mental health, cognitive, behavioral, academic, and legal outcomes. These results are salient given the increasing deregulation of cannabis. The Sultan Lab is currently conducting multiple ongoing studies regarding cannabis use. With regards to vaping, the Sultan Lab has published a study on whether e-cigarette use serves as an aid to smoking reduction or not, and found that e-cigarette use is related to more rather than less intensive cigarette use. Read more about cannabis here.
- Electronic Health Records (EHRs)
- Natural Language Processing (NLP)
- Large Languge Models (LLM)
- Substance use disorders
Current Projects
Using Natural Language Processing (NLP) to Process Electronic Health Record (EHR) Data to Evaluate Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems (ENDS) Use in Individuals with Comorbid Psychiatric Conditions. The Sultan Lab’s current project aims to integrate pediatric psychiatry and research with Natural Language Processing (NLP), to identify key factors with e-cigarette (ENDS) use in individuals with mental health conditions through clinical notes.
Past Projects
Treatment Patterns and Outcomes for Youth: Using epidemiological methods and administrative datasets, the Sultan Lab described pharmacologic treatment patterns of youth, high risk outcomes in ADHD youth and antipsychotic and stimulant treatment patterns of youth with ADHD. This research advanced the field by identifying population level trends in rates of prescribing of antipsychotics in ADHD youth, demonstrating links to comorbidity, and identifying potential problematic prescribing. Further, this research has demonstrated that the age and sex distribution of stimulant and antidepressant use among young people is broadly consistent with known national epidemiological patterns of their established indications for ADHD, anxiety, and depression. Lastly, in studying adverse behaviors in youth with ADHD, the Sultan Lab identified early clinical antecedents of future problematic behaviors in this population. Specifically, adolescents with ADHD have elevated risks for suicide behaviors, aggression, emotional dysregulation, and legal issues.
Psychopharmacology Safety, Prescribing, and Nomenclature: Through research on rates of neutropenia and agranulocytosis for clozapine treated individuals, the Sultan Lab identified that new FDA monitoring guidelines are likely to substantially reduce the percentage of patients who meet criteria for clozapine-associated hematologic events requiring treatment interruption. This decrease may reduce the clinical burden of managing patients who can be safely treated with clozapine and therefore increase the number of individuals treated with this uniquely effective medication. Further, to combat misrepresentations of psychotropic medications, the Sultan Lab worked to advance our nomenclature through a more neuroscience-based model.
Grants
- Elaine Schlosser Lewis Fund for Attention and Learning Disorders (American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry)
- Translational Research in Child Psychiatric Disorders (National Institute for Mental Health, Federal Government)