To understand heterogeneous disorders, researchers have sought homogeneous subtypes using a variety of features and analytic methods. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) presents with varying intensities of symptoms of intrusive trauma memories, hyperarousal, and stress-induced dysregulation. In the search, various combinations of features have been selected from clinical items, multi-omic blood markers, GWAS, neuro-cognition, electroencephalography, and regional brain connectivity domains. This has led to substantially different subtypes not easily compared but offering an expanded view of PTSD. Distinct subtypes have been identified from mixed feature classes including MRIs [1], multi-omic biomarkers [2] and electro-encephalographs that predict differential treatment outcomes [3].

Identifying subtypes from only clinical features supports the practice goal of precision medicine (PM) for treating physicians to be able to identify patients by features they can measure for whom they can recommend a specific treatment. This is best achieved if the features defining the subtypes are clinically accessible to them such as symptoms obtained from reliable and valid scales that they commonly use or can easily obtain such as clinical laboratory values. Other measures that are harder and more costly to obtain in the clinical setting need to be considered as well, particularly if they lead to subtypes for whom an efficacious treatments can be identified.

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