title: Is age at symptom onset associated with severity of memory impairment in adults with obsessive-compulsive disorder?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Age at onset is a potentially important marker for neurobiological features of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). This study examined the relationship between age at symptom onset and memory impairment in adults with OCD.
  
  
  METHODS
  The authors used the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test and the California Verbal Learning Test to compare memory functioning of 37 adult OCD patients with self-reported childhood onset of symptoms (onset at less than 18 years of age) with that of 31 patients with adult-onset symptoms.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No differences were found between the two groups on any of the verbal and nonverbal memory measures.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Self-reported age at symptom onset is not associated with memory performance in adult patients with OCD according to tests previously found to be sensitive to frontal-striatal system dysfunction and impairment in OCD. Such dysfunction appears to be a consistent feature of OCD in adults, regardless of age at initial symptom onset.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02129-2060, USA.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Henin
authors.forename: C R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Savage
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Rauch
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Deckersbach
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wilhelm
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Baer
authors.forename: M W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Otto
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Jenike
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D017668:Age of Onset; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index