title: Harm avoidance in subjects with obsessive-compulsive disorder and their families.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study investigates the role of harm avoidance (HA) as a possible risk factor in the familiality of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). HA is considered to be a genetically influenced personality trait with an increasingly understood neuroanatomical basis.
  
  
  METHODS
  75 subjects with OCD from hospital sites and a community sample and their 152 first degree relatives and 75 age and sex matched controls with their 143 first degree relatives were evaluated with structured clinical interviews (DSM-IV). HA was assessed with Cloninger's Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Subjects with OCD had higher scores of HA than controls (p<or=0.001). First degree relatives of OCD cases also showed higher HA than relatives of control subjects (p=0.001).These results remained stable when comparing only OCD subjects versus controls (p<or=0.001) and relatives of OCD cases versus relatives of controls (p=0.005) without current comorbid disorders.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The investigation of HA alone does not allow to disentangle the transmission of biological versus psychological factors related to an elevated level of anxiety in families of OCD cases.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This is the first study to extent previous findings of elevated HA in OCD cases to their first degree relatives. Thus, HA may partially mediate the familial risk for OCD.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Greifswald, Germany.
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ettelt
authors.forename: Hans Joergen
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Grabe
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ruhrmann
authors.forename: Friederike
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Buhtz
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hochrein
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kraft
authors.forename: Ralf
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pukrop
authors.forename: Joachim
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Klosterkötter
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Falkai
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Maier
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: John
authors.forename: Harald J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Freyberger
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wagner
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D015897:Comorbidity; D035061:Control Groups; D003625:Data Collection; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005190:Family; D005192:Family Health; D005239:Fear / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology*; D010551:Personality / Q000235:genetics*; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012307:Risk Factors; D012494:Sampling Studies; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013694:Temperament / Q000145:classification