Condition

Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

Editors: Adrian Preda MD; Esther Jolanda van Zuuren MD; Alexander Rae-Grant MD, FRCPC, FAAN

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Background Information

Description

Definitions

  • Obsession - Repetitive or persistent thoughts that are intrusive, unwanted, and cause distress or anxiety.,,
  • Compulsions (also called rituals) - Repetitive behaviors or mental acts that are not intrinsically pleasurable and are performed in response to an obsession.,,
  • Ruminations - Repetitive mental acts performed in response to intrusive thoughts.
  • Delusions - Obsessions without preserved insight.
Common compulsions in obsessive-compulsive disorder

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Common compulsions in obsessive-compulsive disorder

Mental acts such as checking one's memory, asking for forgiveness, excessive praying, or avoiding triggers; repetitive checking or seeking assurance from others; reordering objects or repeating actions multiple times; repetitive washing, cleaning.

Types

  • The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) identifies OCD specifiers.,
    • Level of insight specifier:
      • Good or fair insight refers to a recognition that one's OCD beliefs are definitely or probably not true.
      • Poor insight refers to the conviction that one's OCD beliefs and/or behaviors are not problematic despite contrary evidence.
      • Absent insight/delusional beliefs refers to the conviction that one's OCD beliefs are true, which is associated with poorer outcome.
    • Presence of tics specifier; patient may have a tic disorder or a family history of tic disorder
  • See Clinical presentation for common patterns of obsessions and/or compulsions.

Epidemiology

Incidence/Prevalence

  • The age of onset of OCD is typically bimodal and begins prior to age 30.
    • Mean age of onset is 10 years old in children.
    • Another peak of new-onset cases occurs in adolescence and young adulthood, where the mean age of onset is 19-21 years.
  • There is a reported 1%-3% lifetime prevalence in adults and an estimated 1%-2% prevalence in children (,,, J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry 2012 Jan;51(1):98)
  • OCD appears to occur more frequently in male children, but there appear to be no sex differences in the incidence of OCD by adulthood.
  • STUDY SUMMARY
    cumulative incidence 0.4% of OCD cases at age 23 years in Finland
    COHORT STUDY: BMC Psychiatry 2017 Feb 10;17(1):64

Risk Factors

  • Risk factors for OCD include:
    • Family history of OCD,
      • Estimated heritability is reported to range from 27%-65%.
        • Childhood-onset OCD heritability: 45%-65%.
        • Adolescent- or adult-onset OCD heritability: 27%-47%.
      • Monozygotic twins have been reported to have a higher concordance rate for OCD (0.52) than dizygotic twins (0.21), with an overall estimated heritability for OCD reported to be 48% in this population (JAMA Psychiatry 2014 Feb;71(2):182, Psychiatr Clin North Am 2014 Sep;37(3):319full-text).
    • Exposure to childhood adversity such as abuse, neglect, social isolation, or bullying
    • Presence of internalizing symptoms and higher degree of negative emotionality (Psychol Med 2011 Dec;41(12):2495)
    • History of anxiety sensitivity (J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2020 Sep;61(9):979)
    • Perinatal and pregnancy-related factors, including illness requiring medical care during pregnancy and birthing difficulties (J Child Adolesc Psychopharmacol 2008 Aug;18(4):373)
  • Factors including parental age, season of birth, socioeconomic status, parental rearing practices, infections, traumatic brain injury, substance use, or vitamin deficiency have not been found to increase risk of OCD (Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2016 Jun;65:36).
  • STUDY SUMMARY
    stressful life events may be associated with increased obsessive-compulsive symptoms in adolescence
    COHORT STUDY: Eur Psychiatry 2019 Feb;56:35

  • STUDY SUMMARY
    COVID-19 associated with increased risk of anxiety and other psychiatric illness within 90 days in United States
    COHORT STUDY: Lancet Psychiatry 2020 Nov 9 early online

  • STUDY SUMMARY
    perinatal factors may be associated with increased risk for OCD in offspring
    COHORT STUDY: JAMA Psychiatry 2016 Nov 1;73(11):1135

Associated Conditions

  • OCD is associated with other psychiatric disorders, especially anxiety disorders and mood disorders. In fact, about 90% of persons with OCD meet criteria for ≥ 1 other psychiatric disorder.,
  • Other psychiatric comorbidities associated with OCD include:,
  • In children and adolescents with OCD, psychiatric comorbidities have been reported in up to 50% of patients. Younger age at OCD onset is associated with an increased risk for an of the following:,
    • Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
    • Specific phobias, including agoraphobia
    • Anxiety disorders, including separation anxiety
    • Tourette syndrome
    • Pediatric acute-onset neuropsychiatric syndrome (PANS), which is presumed to be an autoimmune encephalopathy of childhood
      • PANS is characterized by the abrupt onset of OCD or severe food/fluid intake restriction, as well as ≥ 2 additional neuropsychiatric symptoms.
      • A subset of PANS, pediatric autoimmune neuropsychiatric disorder associated with group A streptococcal infections (PANDAS), is characterized by OCD and/or tic disorder, and a temporal relationship between symptoms and group A streptococcal (GAS) infection.
  • STUDY SUMMARY
    hoarding compulsions appear associated with higher levels of impairment, and slightly higher prevalence of certain tic and anxiety disorders in children with OCD
    CASE-CONTROL STUDY: J Obsessive Compuls Relat Disord 2014 Oct 1;3(4):325

  • STUDY SUMMARY
    hoarding symptoms appear associated with earlier age at diagnosis and higher rate of comorbid ADHD and anxiety disorders in children with OCD
    CASE-CONTROL STUDY: J Obsessive Compuls Relat Disord 2014 Jan 1;3(1):6

  • STUDY SUMMARY
    younger age at diagnosis appears associated with higher prevalence of comorbid disorders
    CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY: Eur Psychiatry 2008 Apr;23(3):187

Etiology and Pathogenesis

Pathogenesis

  • The etiology of OCD is not well understood. Emerging evidence suggests possible interactions among genetic, neurobiological, and environmental factors. Broadly characterized, OCD is a multifactorial condition involving polygenetic and environmental factors leading to neuroanatomical abnormalities (Indian J Psychiatry 2019 Jan;61(Suppl 1):S9).
  • The neurobiological model of OCD based on structural and functional imaging studies of patients with OCD suggests involvement of extensive networks in the parietal cortex and limbic areas (including the amygdala) and the cerebellum.
    • Individuals with OCD may be genetically vulnerable to environmental factors that trigger modification of neurotransmitters, including glutamate, serotonin, dopamine, and Gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA).
    • The neuroanatomical expression of these modifications may result in an imbalance between the direct and indirect loops of the cortico–striato–thalamo–cortical (CSTC) neural circuit. Activation of the aberrant CSTC loop appears to be associated with OCD neuropathology.
    • References - Indian J Psychiatry 2019 Jan;61(Suppl 1):S9, Nat Rev Neurosci 2014 Jun;15(6):410
  • Distinctive brain characteristics in persons with OCD have been reported in mostly case-control imaging studies.
    • Grey matter abnormalities associated with OCD in some studies include:
      • Increased grey matter in the caudate nucleus (Pharmacol Ther 2011 Dec;132(3):314)
      • Decreased cortical thickness in the anterior cingulate cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, or parietal regions (Am J Psychiatry 2018 May 1;175(5):453)
      • Decreased volume, thickness, and surface area of the right anterior cingulate gyrus, left frontal pole, and right lateral orbitofrontal cortex (J Psychiatr Res 2012 Sep;46(9):1161)
      • Substantially decreased volume in the smaller hippocampal and larger pallidal areas, with pallidal volume more pronounced in adults with childhood-onset OCD (Am J Psychiatry 2017 Jan 1;174(1):60)
      • Increased thalamic volumes in children with OCD (Am J Psychiatry 2017 Jan 1;174(1):60)
    • White matter abnormalities associated with OCD in some studies include:
      • Decreased white matter integrity in the cingulate bundle, corpus callosum, or anterior limb of internal capsule; reported in adult patients with OCD
      • Increased white connectivity; reported in children and adolescents with OCD
      • Reference - J Psychiatr Res 2014 Jul;54:26
    • Connectivity abnormalities associated with OCD in some studies include:
      • Hyperactivity in the orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and caudate nucleus ( Dev Psychopathol 2008 Fall;20(4):1251)
      • Decreased global brain connectivity around the inferior lateral prefrontal cortex, left middle frontal gyrus, and precentral gyrus (Neuroscientist 2016 Apr;22(2):188)
      • Increased resting-state functional connectivity within the cortico–striato–thalamo–cortical system during resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) (Front Psychiatry 2019;10:319)
  • Genome-wide factors associated with OCD and heritability include genetic polymorphisms and gain-of-function variants on specific genes.
    • STUDY SUMMARY
      28% common SNP heritability estimated for OCD based on genome-wide complex trait analysis of combined genome-wide association study cohorts
      META-ANALYSIS: Mol Psychiatry 2018 May;23(5):1181

    • STUDY SUMMARY
      SLC1A1 glutamate transporter gene may be associated with OCD
      CASE-CONTROL STUDY: Arch Gen Psychiatry 2006 Jul;63(7):769

    • STUDY SUMMARY
      DLGAP1 glutamate related synapse gene may be associated with OCD
      CASE-CONTROL STUDY: Mol Psychiatry 2013 Jul;18(7):788

    • STUDY SUMMARY
      presynaptic PTPRD gene may be associated with OCD
      CASE-CONTROL STUDY: Mol Psychiatry 2015 Mar;20(3):337

    • STUDY SUMMARY
      gain-of-function variant at 5-HTTLPR of serotonin transporter SLC6A4 gene may be associated with OCD in children and adolescents
      CASE-CONTROL STUDY: Neurosci Lett 2014 Sep 19;580:100

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