Early‐onset obsessive‐compulsive disorder: a subgroup with a specific clinical and familial pattern?

Abstract

These findings are consistent with other reports in the literature that the morbid risk of OCD is elevated in relatives of probands with early-onset OCD. However, the majority of cases do not have a positive family history of OCD. This result suggests that early onset is not the only specific clinical marker for familial risk in OCD. Thus more work is needed to clearly elucidate other factors related to increased genetic vulnerability for OCD.

The relationships between low grade inflammation, demographic and clinical characteristics in patients with obsessive compulsive disorder

“…The incidence of OCD in first-degree relatives of OCD probands ranges from 5% to 22%. [33][34][35] The rate of familyality in our study (19%) is comparable with previous studies. Denys et al 3 found that patients with early-onset and positive family history of OCD had lower numbers of NK cells than patients with late-onset and non-familial OCD.…”

Genetic and Environmental Contributions to Self-Report Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms in Dutch Adolescents at Ages 12, 14, and 16

“…33 A closer look at the heritability estimates over time reveals that OCS is remarkably stable, with heritability estimates of approximately 55% at younger ages, 11 with a decrease at age 12, in which part of the variance was accounted for by shared environmental influences, continuing to 55% at ages 14 and 16, and 45% in adulthood. 15 This decrease in heritability between children/adolescents and adults may reflect the bimodal distribution found in the clinical OCD literature, 1,2 which found early-onset OCD to be associated with a higher genetic load compared to late-onset OCD.…”

“…In OCD, a bimodal distribution of age at onset has been found, with one peak occurring in preadolescent childhood and another peak in adulthood. 1,2 Early age at onset of OCD is also associated with tic disorder, 3,4 and the morbidity risk of OCD in family members of OCD subjects with early-onset OCD is higher than in relatives of late-onset OCD probands. 5,6 Furthermore, adult studies found an equal representation of men and women with OCD, or a slight female preponderance, whereas in clinical studies, early age at onset of OCD is associated with male preponderance.…”

A Naturalistic Exploratory Study of the Impact of Demographic, Phenotypic and Comorbid Features in Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

“…2 analyses were performed on categorical variables and an unpaired t test or ANOVA on continuous variables. Post hoc analyses for multiple comparisons were made with the Tukey test.…”

“…It has been hypothesized that age at onset of OCD (childhood versus adolescence) may contribute to differences in symptomatology [6,7] . Younger patients are more frequently male and have attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) comorbidity, while adolescents more often present comorbidity with psychosis, and sexual and religious obsessions are more commonly reported [2,6] . Boys more frequently have sexual obsessions, while girls are more likely to present hoarding compulsions [8] .…”