Sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of Turkish children and adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder

Aim. To assess clinical and demographic characteristics of Turkish children and adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Method. The study comprised 47 children and adolescents (31 boys and 15 girls) aged between 9 and 15 years, who were diagnosed with obsessive-compulsive disorder according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV. At the first interview, sociodemographic data of patients were recorded and Maudsley Obsession Compulsive Questionnaire (MOCQ), Child Depression Inventory (CDI), and State and Trait Anxiety inventory for Children (STAI-C) were administered concurrently. Afterwards, the comorbid diagnosis and clinical characteristics of obsessive-compulsive disorder were investigated in detail during a psychiatric interview. Results. The obsessive-compulsive disorder prevalence among 1,739 outpatients seen for the first time at our clinics between January 1998 and April 1999 was 2.7% (n = 47). Initial complaints with a content of obsession or compulsion were observed in only 14.9% (n = 7) of the patients. Contamination (48.9%) and cleaning (68.1%) were the most common symptoms. Thirty-one patients (65.9%) had at least one comorbid disorder with obsessive-compulsive disorder, the most common being major depression (29.8%). There were no significant differences between the patients with and those without comorbid disorder in terms of MOCQ and subscales scores. Children under age of 13 had higher scores on cleanliness subscale on MOCQ, whereas children with migration history had higher state anxiety scores. There were no differences in STAI-C and CDI scores between boy and girls, children (< 13 years) and adolescents (< 13 years), and firstborn and other children in a family. Conclusion. Obsessive-compulsive disorder is a serious clinical problem in childhood and practitioners, pediatricians, and psychiatrists should explicitly ask about the presence of symptoms characteristic to obsessive-compulsive disorder. Given the high rates of various comorbid states, such as anxiety, mood and tic disorders, comorbidities should also be taken into account during psychiatric evaluation of a child patient.