Parental psychopathology in child and adolescent obsessive-compulsive disorder.
OBJECTIVE
To identify the lifetime prevalence of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and other psychiatric diagnoses in parents of OCD pediatric patients as well as the frequency of onset of psychiatric disorders in the 6 months prior to evaluation.


METHODS
Parents (n = 63) of 32 children and adolescents (20 males and 12 females; mean age of 13.3 +/- 2.4) with OCD and parents of (n = 63) 32 age and sex-matched controls with no psychiatric diagnosis were examined. The semi-structured SCID-I was used to identify axis I psychiatric disorders and SCID-II to evaluate personality disorders.


RESULTS
Mothers of patients had significantly more psychiatric diagnoses than control mothers (P = 0.001). Only parents of patients had diagnosis of OCD (P = 0.01) and psychiatric diagnosis (Adjustment Disorders, Major Depression, Anxiety Disorders) with onset during the 6 months prior to evaluation (P = 0.001). The duration of disease in children appeared to be related to development of morbidity in parents (P = 0.04). Parents of patients also showed a higher incidence of personality disorders (P = 0.01), in particular avoidant (6 versus 1 parents, P < 0.055) and obsessive-compulsive (9 versus 2 parents, P = 0.016) personality disorders.


CONCLUSIONS
The findings suggest that there may be an excess of psychopathology in parents of children with OCD as compared to parents of pediatric and non-psychiatric patients. Adjustment disorders with depressive and anxious symptoms are significantly more frequent in mothers of OCD children after the onset of the disease.
Calvo
Rosa
R
Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology Dept., Institute of Neurosciences, Hospital Clínic Universitari, 08036, Barcelona, Spain. rcalvo@clinic.ub.es
Lázaro
Luisa
L
Castro
Josefina
J
Morer
Astrid
A
Toro
Josep
J
D000293:Adolescent; D000294:Adolescent Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D015995:Prevalence; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D013997:Time Factors