Korean J Biol Psychiatry.  2017 May;24(2):75-81. 10.0000/kjbp.2017.24.2.75.

Neurocognitive Dysfunction in Patients with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in Association of Duration of Untreated Illness : A Preliminary Study

• Oh SH
• Kim SN
• Han J
• Lee J
• Lee TY
• Shin MS
• Kwon JS

• KMID: 2385855
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.0000/kjbp.2017.24.2.75

Abstract

OBJECTIVES
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic and disabling psychiatric disorder. The duration of untreated illness (DUI) has been suggested as one of the predictors of clinical course and outcome in various psychiatric disorders. There is increasing evidence that cognitive dysfunction is associated with the prognosis of OCD. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of DUI on the neurocognitive functions in patients with OCD.
METHODS
Sixty-two patients with a DSM-IV diagnosis of OCD from the outpatient clinic were included in this study. We defined the short DUI if the DUI was 2-year or less and the long DUI if it was longer than 2-year. Neurocognitive functions were assessed by visuospatial memory function test and 4 subsets of K-WAIS such as vocabulary, arithmetic, block design and picture arrangement. Differences in neurocognitive functions as well as clinical variables between OCD patients with short DUI and those with long DUI were investigated. Correlation analyses were also performed to determine the correlation between DUI and neurocognitive functions.
RESULTS
Compared with the short DUI group, the long DUI group performed worse in the block design test, which measures executive function. The long DUI group also had a higher level of compulsive symptom severity than the short DUI group. However, the DUI was not correlated with neurocognitive functions.
CONCLUSIONS
Findings in this preliminary study suggest that the long DUI in patients with OCD is associated with more severe executive dysfunction. Studies with larger samples and longitudinal design are needed to further confirm the prognostic role of the DUI in OCD.

Keyword

Duration of untreated illness; Obsessive-compulsive disorder; Neurocognitive function

MeSH Terms

Ambulatory Care Facilities
Diagnosis
Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
Executive Function
Humans
Memory
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder*
Prognosis
Vocabulary