Rates of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder in first degree relatives of patients with trichotillomania: a research note.
To explore a possible relationship between trichotillomania, (TTM) (compulsive hair pulling) and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), 65 out of 69 (94%) first degree relatives of 16 female probands with severe chronic TTM were compared with two control groups for OCD and for TTM. Three (19%) of the 16 TTM probands had at least one first degree relative with a lifetime history of OCD, and there was an age corrected rate of 6.4% of first degree relatives with OCD. No relative in control group (A) met criteria for OCD. There was a trend (Fishers exact p = .07, two tailed) for a higher rate (age corrected) of OCD in TTM families; these pilot data are consistent with the concept of a spectrum of obsessive compulsive disorders which includes TTM and other pathological grooming behaviours.
Lenane
M C
MC
Child Psychiatry Branch, NIMH, Bethesda, MD 20892.
Swedo
S E
SE
Rapoport
J L
JL
Leonard
H
H
Sceery
W
W
Guroff
J J
JJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005190:Family; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D014256:Trichotillomania / Q000453:epidemiology*