The State of Ohio Adversity and Resilience (SOAR) Study Protocol:A Comprehensive, Multimodal, Family-based, Longitudinal Investigation of Risk and Resilience in Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders

Abstract

Introduction. Deaths related to drug overdose and suicide in the United States have increased nearly 500% and 35%, respectively over the last two decades. The human and economic costs to society associated with these deaths of despair are immense. Great efforts and substantial investments have been made in treatment and prevention, yet these efforts have not abated these increasing trajectories of deaths over time. The COVID pandemic has exacerbated and highlighted these problems. Notably, some geographical areas (e.g. Appalachia, farmland) and some communities (e.g. low-income persons, essential workers, minoritized populations) have been disproportionately affected. Risk factors have been identified for substance use and suicide deaths: forms of adversity, neglect, opportunity indexes, and trauma. Yet, the social, psychological and biological mechanisms driving risk are not uniform. Notably, most people exposed to risk factors do not become symptomatic, and could be broadly be considered resilient. Thus, protective or resilience factors and biological mechanisms may play important roles. Achieving a better understanding of biological, psychological, and social mechanisms underlying both pathology and resilience will be crucial for improving approaches for prevention and treatment and creating precision medicine approaches for more efficient and effective treatment. Methods and analysis. The State of Ohio Adversity and Resilience (SOAR) study is a prospective, longitudinal, multimodal, integrated familial study designed to identify biological, psychological, and social risk and resilience factors and processes leading to disorders of the brain, including overdose, suicide and psychological/medical comorbidity (e.g., alcoholism) leading to reduce life expectancy and quality of life. It includes two nested longitudinal samples: (i) Wellness Discovery Survey: an address-based random population epidemiological sample representative of the state of Ohio, of 15,000 individuals (unique households) for psychosocial, psychiatric, and substance use assessment, and (ii) Brain Health Study: a family-based, multimodal, deep-phenotyping study conducted in 1200 families (up to 3600 persons aged 12-72) including MRI, EEG, blood biomarkers, psychiatric diagnostic interviews, neuropsychological assessments, psychosocial functioning, family and community history, dynamics, and supports. SOAR is designed to discover, develop and deploy advanced predictive analytics and interventions to transform mental health prevention, diagnosis, treatment and recovery. Ethics and dissemination. All participants will provide written informed consent. The study was approved by The Ohio State University Institutional Review Board (study numbers 2023H0316 and 2023H0350). Findings will be disseminated to academic peers, clinicians and healthcare consumers, policymakers and the general public, using local and international academic channels (academic journals, evidence briefs and conferences) and outreach (workshops and seminars).