{'fraction_non_alphanumeric': 0.020606060606060607, 'fraction_numerical': 0.0030303030303030303, 'mean_word_length': 5.936974789915967, 'pattern_counts': {'":': 0, '<': 0, '<?xml version=': 0, '>': 0, 'https://': 0, 'lorem ipsum': 0, 'www.': 0, 'xml': 0}, 'pii_count': 0, 'substrings_counts': 0, 'word_list_counts': {'cursed_substrings.json': 1, 'profanity_word_list.json': 0, 'sexual_word_list.json': 0, 'zh_pornsignals.json': 0}}
The architecture of co-morbidity networks of physical and mental health conditions in military veterans

Co-morbidity between medical and psychiatric conditions is commonly considered between individual pairs of conditions. However, an important alternative is to consider all conditions as part of a co-morbidity network, which encompasses all interactions between patients and a healthcare system. Analysis of co-morbidity networks could detect and quantify general tendencies not observed by smaller-scale studies. Here, we investigate the co-morbidity network derived from longitudinal healthcare records from approximately 1 million United States military veterans, a population disproportionately impacted by psychiatric morbidity and psychological trauma. Network analyses revealed marked and heterogenous patterns of co-morbidity, including a multi-scale community structure composed of groups of commonly co-morbid conditions. Psychiatric conditions including posttraumatic stress disorder were strong predictors of future medical morbidity. Neurological conditions and conditions associated with chronic pain were particularly highly co-morbid with psychiatric conditions. Across conditions, the degree of co-morbidity was positively associated with mortality. Co-morbidity was modified by biological sex and could be used to predict future diagnostic status, with out-of-sample prediction accuracy of 90–92%. Understanding complex patterns of disease co-morbidity has the potential to lead to improved designs of systems of care and the development of targeted interventions that consider the broader context of mental and physical health.