title: Neuropsychological dysfunction in adults with early-onset obsessive-compulsive disorder: the search for a cognitive endophenotype.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Evidence suggests that early-onset obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is an etiologically distinct subtype of OCD. The objective of the present work was to search for neurocognitive endophenotypes of early-onset OCD based on assessments of attention, memory, and executive function in patients with the disorder and their unaffected siblings.
  
  
  METHODS
  We compared the performance of 40 adult patients with early-onset OCD, 40 of their unaffected siblings, and 40 unrelated healthy controls on a neuropsychological battery designed for this study. We searched for associations among test performance, demographic variables (age, sex and years of education) and clinical symptoms of early-onset OCD.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients performed significantly worse than healthy controls on the Tower of Hanoi, and the Stroop and Wisconsin tests, indicating impairments in planning, mental flexibility and inhibitory control. The performance of the unaffected first-degree siblings of patients with early-onset OCD on the Stroop and Wisconsin tests also differed from that of healthy controls. Symptom severity in early-onset OCD was strongly correlated with performance on the Tower of Hanoi.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings support the existence of specific executive function deficits in patients with early-onset OCD. Relatives presented an intermediate phenotype between patients and controls, suggesting that executive functions such as mental flexibility and response inhibition may be considered candidate endophenotypes of early-onset OCD.
authors: Faculty of Education, South West University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China.
authors: Jie
authors: J
authors: Zhang
authors: Faculty of Education, South West University, Chongqing, People's Republic of China.
authors: Xiaoping
authors: X
authors: Yang
authors: Research Center for Psychology and Education, Chengdu Normal University, Chengdu, Sichuan, People's Republic of China.
authors: Qiyong
authors: Q
authors: Yang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology*; D004522:Educational Status; D058068:Endophenotypes; D056344:Executive Function; D005192:Family Health; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology*; D055815:Young Adult