The emerging agenda of stratified medicine in neurology

Nature Reviews Neurology

(2013)

doi:10.1038/nrneurol.2013.245

Published online: 10 December 2013

Abstract

Stratified medicine can reduce the costs of neurological care, bringing benefits to both patients and physicians. The availability of routine genetic testing, new biomarkers and advanced imaging, as well as new technologies for patient-centred data collection, has expanded the potential for patient stratification. Several neurology subspecialities, including stroke, epilepsy and behavioural neurology, have already applied stratification for disease prognosis, optimization of disease management and reduction of treatment-related adverse events. Stratification approaches could improve the cost-effectiveness of neurological care that involves treatments with high costs or risks of adverse reactions, as well as guide the use of emerging, highly individualized therapies. There are still major challenges in the development of clinically actionable stratification concepts, and practical barriers can limit adoption of these concepts into clinical practice. However, improved technologies and disease understanding are making more precise stratification practical. We believe that neurologists should become leaders in the development and validation of these practices, and that use of these approaches should be part of a broader strategy for addressing both the growing needs of an ageing population and the rising pressures for rapid improvements in the cost-effectiveness of therapeutics.