title: Comparison of clinical characteristics of familial and sporadic obsessive-compulsive disorder.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a heterogeneous condition with evidence of familiality in a considerable proportion of patients. A classification into familial and sporadic forms has been proposed to explain the heterogeneity. The current study aims to compare the demographic, clinical and comorbidity patterns of patients with and without a family history of OCD in first-degree relatives.
  
  
  METHODS
  802 consecutive patients who consulted a specialty OCD Clinic at a tertiary care psychiatric hospital in India were evaluated with the Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview, the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale, and the Clinical Global Impression Scale. Family history was assessed by interviewing patients and at least one first-degree relative.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Family history of OCD was seen in 152 patients (19%). Family history was associated with juvenile onset (Χ(2)=19.472, p<0.001), obsessions of contamination (Χ(2)=6.658, p=0.01), hoarding (Χ(2)=4.062, p=0.032), need for symmetry (Χ(2)=3.95, p=0.047), washing compulsion (Χ(2)=7.923, p=0.005), ordering compulsions (Χ(2)=6.808, p=0.009), repeating compulsions (Χ(2)=4.950, p=0.026) and compulsions by proxy (Χ(2)=7.963, p=0.005). Family history was also associated with greater severity of OCD (t=-2.31, p=0.022) and compulsions (t=-3.09, p=0.002) and longer duration of illness at presentation (t=-2.93, p=0.004).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings suggest that familial OCD may have distinctive clinical features. Studying familial forms of OCD may offer unique insight in to understanding the genetic basis of OCD.
authors.affiliation: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Clinic, Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, India 560029. Electronic address: a.shyamsundar@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Shyam Sundar
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Arumugham
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, K. S. Hegde Medical Academy, NITTE University, Mangalore, India 575018.
authors.forename: Anish V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Cherian
authors.affiliation: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Clinic, Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, India 560029.
authors.forename: Upasana
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Baruah
authors.affiliation: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Clinic, Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, India 560029.
authors.forename: Biju
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Viswanath
authors.affiliation: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Clinic, Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, India 560029.
authors.forename: Janardhanan C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Narayanaswamy
authors.affiliation: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Clinic, Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, India 560029.
authors.forename: Suresh Bada
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Math
authors.affiliation: Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) Clinic, Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bangalore, India 560029.
authors.forename: Y C Janardhan
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Reddy
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D018740:Genetic Heterogeneity; D006778:Hospitals, Psychiatric; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D010641:Phenotype; D055815:Young Adult