Influence of age of onset on clinical features in obsessive-compulsive disorder.
We compared early-onset and late-onset obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients in terms of demographic and clinical features. One hundred sixteen outpatients whose primary diagnosis was OCD according to DSM-IV diagnostic criteria were recruited. Early-onset (n=50) and late-onset (n=66) OCD groups were compared with respect to demographic variables and scores obtained on various scales. A male gender predominance was found in early-onset OCD group. Symmetry/exactness obsessions, religious obsessions, hoarding/saving obsessions, and hoarding/collecting compulsions also were significantly more frequent in the early-onset group than in the late-onset group. The results may suggest a phenotypic difference between the two groups. Further studies are needed to investigate the differences between early-onset and late-onset OCD groups to examine the hypothesis that early-onset OCD is a distinct subtype of the disorder.
Tükel
Raşit
R
Istanbul University, Istanbul Faculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Istanbul, Turkey. rtukel@superonline.com
Ertekin
Erhan
E
Batmaz
Serap
S
Alyanak
Filiz
F
Sözen
Atiye
A
Aslantaş
Banu
B
Atli
Hatice
H
Ozyildirim
Ilker
I
D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D015897:Comorbidity; D003710:Demography; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D018450:Disease Progression; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012737:Sex Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires