title: Neuropsychological profiles of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder: early onset versus late onset.
abstract: In this study, we assess the neuropsychological profiles of both early and late symptom-onset obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients. The early and late-onset OCD patients are compared to the control group with a series of neuropsychological measurements. The late-onset OCD patients exhibited impaired performance on the immediate and the delayed recall conditions of the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (RCFT) and the letter and category fluency of the Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWA), compared to the normal controls and the early-onset OCD patients. The controls and early-onset OCD patients did not differ on any of the neuropsychological measurements taken in this study. These results suggest that different neurophysiological mechanisms are in play in early and late-onset OCD patients, and age of onset can serve as a potential marker for the subtyping of OCD.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Research Center, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, South Korea.
authors.forename: Seon Hee
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Hwang
authors.forename: Jun Soo
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.forename: Yong-Wook
authors.initials: YW
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Kyung Jin
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Young Youn
authors.initials: YY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Myung-Sun
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D017668:Age of Onset; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D012720:Severity of Illness Index