Clinical expression and treatment response among children with comorbid obsessive compulsive disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder

A prospective investigation of impacts of comorbid attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) on clinical features and long-term treatment response in adult patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

BACKGROUND

A close association between obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents has been investigated in previous studies. However, few studies examined the relationship between lifetime comorbidity of ADHD and OCD in adults. Therefore, we sought to investigate the clinical and psychopathological features related to comorbid ADHD in Japanese adult patients with OCD.

METHODS

We assessed lifetime comorbidity of ADHD in 93 adult Japanese patients with OCD. Additionally, we used the Japanese version of Conners' Adult ADHD Rating Scales to assess the characteristics and severity of ADHD in each participant. According to the results, we excluded OCD patients that did not have ADHD but who exhibited elevated levels of ADHD traits. We compared OCD patients with ADHD (ADHD+ group) and those without ADHD or its trait (ADHD- group) in terms of background profiles and clinical features, such as OCD symptomatology and psychometric test results. Additionally, the 6-month treatment outcome was compared prospectively between groups.

RESULTS

Of the 93 OCD participants, the prevalence of lifetime comorbidity of ADHD was estimated as 16.1%. Compared with the ADHD- group, participants in the ADHD+ group had an earlier age of onset of OCD, higher frequencies of hoarding symptoms, higher levels of depressive and anxiety symptoms and lower quality of life, more elevated levels of impulsivity, and higher rates of substance or behavioral addiction and major depression. Finally, the mean improvement rate on the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale after 6 months of standardized OCD treatment in the ADHD+ group (16.1%) was significantly lower than that in the ADHD- group (44.6%).

CONCLUSION

The lifetime comorbidity of ADHD is likely to exert a significant effect on clinical features and treatment outcome in adult patients with OCD. It is important to consider that underlying ADHD pathology may function as a facilitator for increased severity of global clinical features and treatment refractory conditions in OCD patients. Further studies are required to examine treatment strategies for such patients.

Impact of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Comorbidity on Phenomenology and Treatment Outcomes of Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

Objective: This study, with a case-control design, investigates the impact of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) comorbidity on the phenomenology and treatment outcomes in a clinical sample of pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Methods: The data were derived from an evaluation of the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of 364 children with OCD who were regularly followed up over a 4-year period. Between-group analyses of psychiatric scales were used to compare patients with ADHD comorbidity (n = 144, 39.5%) with their ADHD-free opponents. The clinical course and treatment outcomes of each patient were evaluated based on 4-year clinical follow-up data. Results: Substantial clinical variations in pediatric OCD caused by ADHD comorbidity were identified, including a male preponderance, higher rates of concurrent conduct problems, tic disorders, and learning disabilities, as well as prolonged symptom and treatment durations accompanied by poor response to first-line treatments and higher rates of treatment resistance. Contrary to previous findings, ADHD comorbidity had no impact on the age of OCD onset, and the severity of OCD symptoms was lower in ADHD. With ADHD comorbidity, the OCD symptom course tended to be chronically stable, which may have resulted in complaints persisting into adulthood. In ADHD-free patients, contamination, doubt, religious, somatic obsessions, and cleaning were all more common than in those with ADHD. There was a positive correlation between compulsion scores and the severity of ADHD symptoms, which may be related to increased compulsive coping in ADHD. Impulsivity or compulsivity dominance in the symptom presentation of OCD-ADHD comorbidity may determine phenomenological distinctions such as whether concurrent traits are more prone to tics, conduct problems, or internalizing problems. The primordial associations for clinical characteristics, which were independently associated with ADHD comorbidity, were adjusted using multivariate logistic regression analysis. Clinical variables such as being male, absence of cleaning compulsion, the existence of concurrent conduct problems, tic disorders, and dyslexia, as well as longer treatment duration and poorer treatment response, were all independent predictors of ADHD comorbidity. With an 80.8% accurate classification and relatively fine goodness-of-fit model, the regression model consisting of those predictors had good predictiveness for ADHD comorbidity (R² = 0.543). Conclusions: The close association between pediatric OCD, ADHD, and tic disorders can be defined as a specific subtype of pediatric OCD, characterized by more conduct problems, a chronically stable course of OCD symptoms, and poorer treatment outcomes. Correlational analyses in a longitudinal design and the inclusion of an impulsivity scale would be beneficial for further research to interpret the impulsivity-related correlates in the findings on tic and conduct problems.

Are the symptom dimensions a predictor of short-term response to pharmacotherapy in pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder? A retrospective cohort study

BACKGROUND

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptom dimensions respond differently to behavioral and pharmacological interventions, and some dimensions are reported to be more resistant to treatment.

AIM

We aimed to investigate the responses of three symptom dimensions (harm/sexual, symmetry/hoarding, and contamination/cleaning) to serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SRI) therapy in pediatric OCD.

METHODS

Children who were between 6 and 17 years old, diagnosed with OCD according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) criteria, followed up at our clinic for at least 3 months, and received SRI treatment were included in our study. Response to treatment was assessed using the Clinical Global Impressions scale. Predictors of treatment response were analyzed using regression models.

RESULTS

Of the 102 children with a mean age of 11.84 ± 2.87 years, 57.8% were male and the mean follow-up period was 12.39 ± 9.55 months. The overall response rate to pharmacotherapy was 66.7%. Patients with symmetry/hoarding symptoms [relative risk (RR) = 0.66, 95% confidence interval (CI) (0.12-0.79), P = 0.015] did not respond as well to SRIs. Besides, adolescent age (RR = 0.65, 95% CI (0.10-0.73), P = 0.01) was associated with a less favorable SRI response.

CONCLUSION

This study shows that symptom dimensions are one of the factors predicting response to pharmacotherapy in pediatric OCD. It is hypothesized that considering the dimensions is important to plan more appropriate treatment and provide more accurate prognostic information when assessing children with OCD.

Paediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Comorbid Body Dysmorphic Disorder: Clinical Expression and Treatment Response

This study explored the expression, occurrence, and treatment outcomes of comorbid body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) in 107 youth (7-17 years) seeking treatment for primary obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). In the overall sample, appearance anxiety (AA) was positively associated with OCD-related impairment, severity, symptom frequency, comorbid symptoms, and maladaptive emotion regulation. Comorbid BDD occurred in 9.35% of youth, equally affected males and females, and was associated with older age. AA negligibly reduced following treatment. Compared to those without (a) comorbid BDD and (b) without any comorbidity, youth with comorbid BDD reported greater social impairment and reduced global functioning but did not differ on the occurrence of comorbid anxiety and mood disorders. OCD response or remission rates did not differ. In youth with comorbid BDD, AA did not significantly reduce following treatment. Results suggest a more severe expression accompanies comorbid BDD in youth with OCD, with BDD persisting following OCD treatment.

Irritability, Defiant and Obsessive-Compulsive Problems Development from Childhood to Adolescence

Little is known about the coexistence of oppositionality and obsessive-compulsive problems (OCP) in community children and how it affects their development until adolescence to prevent possible dysfunctions. The co-development of oppositional defiant dimensions and OCP is studied in 563 children (49.7% female) from ages 6 to 13 years, assessed yearly with measures answered by parents and teachers. A 4-class model based on Latent Class Growth Analysis for three parallel processes (irritability, defiant, and OCP) was selected, which showed adequate fitting indexes. Class 1 (n = 349, 62.0%) children scored low on all the measures. Class 2 (n = 53, 9.4%) contained children with high OCP and low irritability and defiant. Class 3 (n = 108, 19.2%) clustered children with high irritability and defiant and low OCP. Class 4 (n = 53, 9.4%) clustered comorbid irritability, defiant, and OCP characteristics. The classes showed different clinical characteristics through development. The developmental co-occurrence of irritability and defiant plus obsessive-compulsive behaviors is frequent and adds severity through development regarding comorbidity, peer problems, executive functioning difficulties, and daily functioning. The identification of different classes when combining oppositional problems and OCP may be informative to prevent developmental dysfunctions and to promote good adjustment through development.

Early onset obsessive-compulsive disorder: the biological and clinical phenotype

Moving from a behavioral-based to a biological-based classification of mental disorders is a crucial step toward a precision-medicine approach in psychiatry. In the last decade, a big effort has been made in order to stratify genetic, immunological, neurobiological, cognitive, and clinical profiles of patients. Making the case of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), a lot have been made in this direction. Indeed, while the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) diagnosis of OCD aimed to delineate a homogeneous group of patients, it is now clear that OCD is instead an heterogeneous disorders both in terms of neural networks, immunological, genetic, and clinical profiles. In this view, a convergent amount of literature, in the last years, indicated that OCD patients with an early age at onset seem to have a specific clinical and biological profile, suggesting it as a neurodevelopmental disorder. Also, these patients tend to have a worse outcome respect to adult-onset patients and there is growing evidence that early-interventions could potentially improve their prognosis. Therefore, the aim of the present paper is to review the current available genetic, immunological, neurobiological, cognitive, and clinical data in favor of a more biologically precise subtype of OCD: the early-onset subtype. We also briefly resume current available recommendations for the clinical management of this specific population.