Research and privacy

Research into presentations that resist treatment

NeuroIride was also created to answer a precise clinical question: how much does unrecognised neurodivergence weigh in mental health presentations that respond poorly to treatment?

The question

In clinical practice we often meet people with anxiety, depression or mood disorders who have already tried several treatments without any real benefit. In many of these so-called treatment-resistant presentations, beneath the classic psychopathology lies a neurodivergent way of functioning that has never been recognised: ADHD, autistic traits, dyslexia, a sensory sensitivity that makes everyday surroundings exhausting. If only the surface layer is treated, the results remain weak.

Our aim is to describe, with data collected in a consistent way, how the different areas of the neurodiversity spectrum and the psychopathological conditions that accompany them intertwine in adults, and to understand which combinations are associated with the most difficult treatment pathways.

Three studies we start from

Autism and associated conditions

Lai M-C, Kassee C, Besney R, et al. (2019). Prevalence of co-occurring mental health diagnoses in the autism population: a systematic review and meta-analysis. The Lancet Psychiatry, 6(10), 819-829.

A meta-analysis of dozens of studies shows that in autistic people co-occurring psychiatric conditions are the rule rather than the exception: ADHD, anxiety disorders and depressive disorders are far more frequent than in the general population.

Read the article

Adult ADHD and a dimensional approach

Katzman MA, Bilkey TS, Chokka PR, Fallu A, Klassen LJ (2017). Adult ADHD and comorbid disorders: clinical implications of a dimensional approach. BMC Psychiatry, 17, 302.

The review describes how often adult ADHD occurs together with mood, anxiety, substance use and personality disorders, and proposes reading it in dimensions: the same logic as the NeuroIride profile.

Read the article

ADHD and treatment-resistant depression

Chen M-H, Pan T-L, Hsu J-W, et al. (2016). Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder comorbidity and antidepressant resistance among patients with major depression: a nationwide longitudinal study. European Neuropsychopharmacology, 26(11), 1760-1767.

In a nationwide study, people with major depression and ADHD had more than twice the risk of not responding to antidepressants compared with those who had depression alone; regular treatment of ADHD reduced this risk.

Read the article

How we protect data

Information comes first. For every person the platform generates a pre-filled form to be read and signed: without it, the assessment cannot begin.
Separate consent for research. It is optional and can be withdrawn at any time. Anyone who does not consent receives exactly the same assessment.
Pseudonymisation. First name, surname, Italian tax code (codice fiscale) and contact details are encrypted and stored separately. Researchers see only a code and have no access to identifying data.
Only those who have consented. Research exports include only people with valid consent; a withdrawal excludes them immediately.
Aggregate results. We publish only group analyses, never data on individuals.
Tracked access. Personal credentials, two-step verification for the most sensitive roles, a log of every access to identifying data, servers in the European Union.
Impact assessment. The processing is accompanied by a data protection impact assessment (DPIA), updated with every substantial change.

The study will begin only after an ethics committee has given its opinion on the research protocol.

The references are provided for information purposes. NeuroIride does not make diagnoses: it supports the professional's assessment.