Evidence map›Paper›PMID 36415153›Full record

ArticleInternational journal of methods in psychiatric research2023

Clinical subtyping using community detection: Limited utility?

Joost A Agelink van Rentergem, Joe Bathelt, Hilde M Geurts

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in International journal of methods in psychiatric research, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
8citing papers in PubMed
1.7field-weighted citation impact, top 15% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

8 citing papers in PubMed, 9 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Reproducible Temperament Profiles in Adolescents With Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Prospectively Predict Clinical Outcomes.Clinical psychological science : a journal of the Association for Psychological Science · 2026
    Article
  2. [Formula: see text] Data-driven profiles of behavior in pediatric medical disorders.Child neuropsychology : a journal on normal and abnormal development in childhood and adolescence · 2026
    Article
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  7. Clinical subtyping using community detection: Limited utility?International journal of methods in psychiatric research · 2023
    Article
  8. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.

Joost A Agelink van RentergemDepartment of Psychology, Dutch Autism & ADHD Research Centre (d'Arc), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-1600-8635
Joe BatheltDepartment of Psychology, Dutch Autism & ADHD Research Centre (d'Arc), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Hilde M GeurtsDepartment of Psychology, Dutch Autism & ADHD Research Centre (d'Arc), University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Parnassia Groep · NLRoyal Holloway University of London · GBUniversity of Amsterdam · NL

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectivesTo discover psychiatric subtypes, researchers are adopting a method called community detection. This method was not subjected to the same scrutiny in the psychiatric literature as traditional clustering methods. Furthermore, many community detection algorithms have been developed without psychiatric sample sizes and variable numbers in mind. We aim to provide clarity to researchers on the utility of this method.

methodsWe provide an introduction to community detection algorithms, specifically describing the crucial differences between correlation-based and distance-based community detection. We compare community detection results to results of traditional methods in a simulation study representing typical psychiatry settings, using three conceptualizations of how subtypes might differ.

resultsWe discovered that the number of recovered subgroups was often incorrect with several community detection algorithms. Correlation-based community detection fared better than distance-based community detection, and performed relatively well with smaller sample sizes. Latent profile analysis was more consistent in recovering subtypes. Whether methods were successful depended on how differences were introduced.

conclusionsTraditional methods like latent profile analysis remain reasonable choices. Furthermore, results depend on assumptions and theoretical choices underlying subtyping analyses, which researchers need to consider before drawing conclusions on subtypes. Employing multiple subtyping methods to establish method dependency is recommended.

Indexed as

AlgorithmsCluster AnalysisComputer SimulationHumansSample Sizecommunity detectionhierarchical clusteringk-meanslatent profile analysispsychiatric subtypes

Identifiers

PMID36415153
PMCPMC10242199
OpenAlexW4309707483

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.