Early onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder and associated comorbidity.

Background: Previous studies have aimed to identify subtypes of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) based on their age of onset (AOO). Obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders (OCS disorders) such as tic disorders have been particularly associated with an early onset in some studies. However, subtypes of early- and late-onset OCD are unevenly determined, and the biological and the clinical validity of these subtypes are unknown.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder and posttraumatic stress disorder.

Background: Previous studies suggested an association between exposure to trauma or stressful life events and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). This study investigates the hypothesis that traumatic events and posttraumatic stress disorders (PTSD) precede the onset of OCD.

Sampling And Methods: 210 cases with OCD from university treatment facilities were compared with 133 sex- and age-matched controls from the adult general population.

Harm avoidance in subjects with obsessive-compulsive disorder and their families.

Introduction: This study investigates the role of harm avoidance (HA) as a possible risk factor in the familiality of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). HA is considered to be a genetically influenced personality trait with an increasingly understood neuroanatomical basis.

Method: 75 subjects with OCD from hospital sites and a community sample and their 152 first degree relatives and 75 age and sex matched controls with their 143 first degree relatives were evaluated with structured clinical interviews (DSM-IV).

Familiality of obsessive-compulsive disorder in nonclinical and clinical subjects.

Objective: Studies of the familiality of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) have yielded inconsistent results. This study compared the familial aggregation of OCD in first-degree relatives of community subjects with never-treated OCD, outpatients with OCD, and comparison subjects.

Method: Fifteen persons from the community with untreated OCD were matched on age and interview type (direct or through family informants) with 90 OCD patients from four treatment facilities and 70 comparison subjects.

Alexithymia in obsessive-compulsive disorder - results from a family study.

Background: Previous studies have suggested an association between alexithymia and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, it is unclear to which extent alexithymic traits in OCD patients reflect familial deficits in cognitively processing and communicating feelings that are also present in their first-degree relatives. This study investigates the hypotheses of an elevated level of alexithymia in subjects with OCD and their first-degree relatives compared to controls and their first-degree relatives.

Impaired prepulse inhibition of acoustic startle in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Background: Animal and clinical studies suggest that impaired sensorimotor gating, as assessed with the prepulse inhibition (PPI) paradigm, may result from dysfunctional frontostriatal brain circuits and from neurochemical alterations which are also implied in the pathophysiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, there is only preliminary evidence about impaired PPI in OCD so far.

Methods: Acoustic PPI was measured in 30 OCD patients and 30 matched healthy controls with a paradigm using different prepulse intensities.

Deficits in gain of smooth pursuit eye movements in schizophrenia and affective disorder patients and their unaffected relatives.

Objective: Disturbance of smooth pursuit eye movements has been discussed as marking a putative endophenotype closely associated with the genetic basis of schizophrenia. Previous studies are not conclusive in regard to the specificity of this marker. Therefore, oculomotor pursuit was evaluated in unaffected family members of index probands diagnosed as having either schizophrenia or affective disorders.