title: The prognostic significance of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in schizophrenia.
abstract: Obsessive-compulsive symptomatology has been described in schizophrenia for more than 60 years, but its clinical significance has yet to be explored systematically. This report details the clinical characteristics and long-term course of a group of 21 schizophrenic patients with prominent obsessive-compulsive symptoms from the Chestnut Lodge Follow-Up Study. While this group differed on admission only minimally from schizophrenic patients without obsessive-compulsive symptoms, their long-term outcome in the areas of social relations, employment, psychopathology, and global functioning was significantly, and almost uniformly, poorer. Persistent obsessive-compulsive symptoms thus appear to be a powerful predictor of poor prognosis in schizophrenia.
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012917:Social Adjustment