title: Cigarette smoking in obsessive-compulsive disorder and unaffected parents of OCD patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cigarette smoking is more prevalent among individuals with psychiatric disorders than the general population. Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) may be an intriguing exception, although no recent study has investigated this hypothesis in OCD patients. Moreover, it is unknown whether reduced smoking rates are present in unaffected first-degree relatives of OCD patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  We assessed smoking prevalence in adults with OCD and unaffected parents of youth with OCD (PYOCD). To this end, 113 adults with OCD completed online questionnaires assessing symptom severity and smoking status. Smoking status was obtained from an independent sample of 210 PYOCD assessed for psychiatric diagnoses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Smoking prevalence rates in adults with OCD (13.3%; n=15) and PYOCD (9.5%; n=20) samples were significantly lower than those found in representative samples of the general population (19-24%, all P<.001) and Axis I disorders (36-64%; all P<.001). There were no smokers in the adult OCD subset without clinically significant depressive symptoms (n=54).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Low prevalence of smoking in OCD may be familial and unique among psychiatric disorders, and might represent a possible state-independent OCD marker. Hypotheses concerning the uncharacteristically low prevalence rates are discussed with relation to OCD phenomenology and pathophysiology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: aabramovitch@mgh.harvard.edu.
authors.forename: Amitai
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Abramovitch
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Center for Depression, Anxiety and Stress Research, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Diego A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Pizzagalli
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Daniel A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Geller
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Lillian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Reuman
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Sabine
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wilhelm
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003863:Depression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology; D015995:Prevalence; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires
keywords: Cigarette smoking; Familial; Nicotine; OCD; Obsessive-compulsive disorder; Unaffected relatives