Individual treatment selection for patients with post-traumatic stress disorder: external validation of a personalised advantage index

OBJECTIVE: To test the predictive accuracy and generalisability of a personalised advantage index (PAI) model designed to support treatment selection for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

METHOD: A PAI model developed by Deisenhofer et al. (2018) was used to predict treatment outcomes in a statistically independent dataset including archival records for N = 152 patients with PSTD who accessed either trauma-focussed cognitive behavioural therapy or eye movement desensitisation and reprocessing in routine care. Outcomes were compared between patients who received their PAI-indicated optimal treatment versus those who received their suboptimal treatment.

RESULTS: The model did not yield treatment specific predictions and patients who had received their PAI-indicated optimal treatment did not have better treatment outcomes in this external validation sample.

CONCLUSION: This PAI model did not generalise to an external validation sample.