• DOI:10.1097/00004583-199607000-00015
• Corpus ID: 8788724

Incidence of obsessive-compulsive disorder in a community sample of young adolescents.

@article{ValleniBasile1996IncidenceOO,
  title={Incidence of obsessive-compulsive disorder in a community sample of young adolescents.},
  author={L A Valleni-Basile and Carol Z. Garrison and Jennifer L. Waller and Cheryl L. Addy and Robert E Mckeown and Kirby L. Jackson and Steven P Cuffe},
  journal={Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry},
  year={1996},
  volume={35 7},
  pages={
          898-906
        }
}

• L. A. Valleni-Basile, C. Garrison, +4 authors S. Cuffe
• Published 1996
• Psychology
• Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

OBJECTIVE
To investigate the incidence, transition probabilities, and risk factors for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and subclinical OCD in adolescents.

METHOD
A two-stage epidemiological study originally designed to investigate depression was conducted between 1987 and 1989 in the southeastern United States. For the screening, a self-report depressive symptom questionnaire was administered to a community sample of 3,283 adolescents. In the diagnostic stage, the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children was administered to 488 mother-child pairs. Baseline screening and diagnostic data from the first year the subject completed an interview and follow-up diagnostic data from subsequent years were used.

RESULTS
The 1-year incidence rates of OCD and subclinical OCD were found to be 0.7% and 8.4%, respectively. Transition probabilities demonstrated a pattern of moving from more severe to less severe categories. Of those with baseline OCD, 17% had the diagnosis of OCD at follow-up; 62% moved to the referent group. Of those with baseline subclinical OCD, 1.5% had OCD at follow-up and 75% moved to the referent group. Black race (odds ratio [OR] = 23.38), age (OR = 4.02), desirable life events (OR = 0.78), undesirable life events (OR = 1.21), and socioeconomic status (OR not estimable) were significant predictors of incident OCD. Age (OR = 2.30), desirable life events (OR = 0.92), and undesirable life events (OR = 1.13) were significantly associated with incident subclinical OCD.

CONCLUSION
An initial diagnosis of subclinical OCD was not significantly predictive of a diagnosis of OCD at 1-year follow-up. The overall morbidity remained higher at follow-up in the baseline OCD group than in the baseline subclinical OCD group. The baseline subclinical OCD group was more dysfunctional at follow-up than was the baseline referent group. Further research concerning differences in symptomatology and impairment between OCD and subclinical OCD is warranted.