Atypical neurocognitive functioning in children and adolescents with obsessive –compulsive disorder (OCD)

In this study, we investigated neurocognitive functioning in a large and representative sample of newly diagnosed children and adolescents with OCD compared to non-psychiatric controls. Children an d adolescents with OCD (n = 119) and non-psychiatric controls (n = 90) underwent psychopathological assessment, intelligence testing, and a neurocognitive test battery spanning cognitive flexibility, planning and decision-making, working memory, fluency, and processing speed. The MANOVA main effect revealed that children and adolescents with OCD performed si gnificantly worse than the control group (p <  .001,\({\eta }_{p}^{2}\) = 0.256). Atypical patient performance was particularly found for indices of cognitive flexibility, decision-making, working memory, and processing speed. We found no evidence of differences in planning or fluency. Moreover, we found no significant associations between neurocognitive performance and OCD symptom severity or comorbidity status. Our results indicate that children and adolescents with OCD show selective atypical neurocognitive functioning. These difficulties do not appear to drive their OCD symptoms. However, they may contribute to lifespan difficulties and interfere with treatment efficacy, an objective of our research currently.
Source: European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry - Category: Psychiatry Source Type: research