IMPORTANCE Tourette syndrome/chronic tic disorder (TS/CT) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) overlap in their phenomenological features and often co-occur in affected individuals and families. Understanding how these disorders cluster in families provides important clinical information and is an important step in understanding the causes of these disorders.OBJECTIVE To determine familial recurrence for TS/CT and OCD using a national epidemiologic sample.
DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTSWe performed a population-based study of national health registries in Denmark, including all individuals (n = 1 741 271) born in Denmark from
Synopsis
Twin and family studies support a significant genetic contribution to
obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and related disorders such as chronic tic
disorders, trichotillomania, skin picking disorder, body dysmorphic disorder,
and hoarding disorder. Recently, population-based studies and novel
laboratory-based methods have confirmed substantial heritability in OCD.
Genome-wide association studies and candidate gene association studies have
provided information on specific genes that may be involved in the pathobiology
of OCD and also of related disorders, particularly chronic tic disorders, though
these genes each contribute only a small portion of the total genetic risk and a
substantial portion of the specific genetic risk profile in OCD is still
unknown. Nevertheless, there are some examples of genes for which perturbations
produce OCD-like phenotypes in animal model systems, allowing a laboratory
platform for investigating the pathobiology of --- and new treatments for ---
OCD and related disorders. Future work promises to continue to clarify the
specific genes involved in risk for OCD as well as their interaction with
environmental variables.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.