Neuropsychological study of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and their parents in China: searching for potential endophenotypes
1Department of Psychiatry, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China
2Shanghai Mental Health Center, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai 200030, China
Abstract
Objective The existence of neuropsychological deficits has been implicated in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), particularly memory, attention, and executive functions. However, few studies have focused on neuropsychological deficits in the relatives of OCD patients. The aim of this study was to investigate cognitive deficits in OCD patients and their parents. Methods Forty patients with OCD, 48 parents of these patients, and 87 healthy controls completed a neuropsychological testing battery. Results Both OCD patients and their parents showed impairments in delayed verbal memory and delayed visual memory. Furthermore, they performed worse than healthy controls in roblemsolving ability. Conclusion Our study demonstrated familial aggregation of delayed memory deficits and impaired problemsolving ability, which may be the potential neuropsychological endophenotypes of hereditary susceptibility to OCD.
Keywords
obsessive-compulsive disorder; neuropsychological tests; memory deficits; problem-solving ability; endophenotype
