Harm avoidance in subjects with obsessive-compulsive disorder and their families

• Published in: Journal of affective disorders 2008-04, Vol.107 (1), p.265-269
• Main Authors: Ettelt, Susan, Grabe, Hans Joergen, Ruhrmann, Stephan, Buhtz, Friederike, Hochrein, Andrea, Kraft, Susanne, Pukrop, Ralf, Klosterkötter, Joachim, Falkai, Peter, Maier, Wolfgang, John, Ulrich, Freyberger, Harald J, Wagner, Michael
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Anxiety Disorders - epidemiology; Anxiety Disorders - genetics; Anxiety Disorders - psychology; Anxiety disorders. Neuroses; Biological and medical sciences; Comorbidity; Control Groups; Data Collection; Factor Analysis, Statistical; Family; Family Health; Family study; Fear - psychology; Female; Harm avoidance; Humans; Life Change Events; Male; Medical sciences; Obsessive-compulsive disorder; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - epidemiology; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - genetics; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - psychology; Obsessive-compulsive disorders; Personality - genetics; Personality Assessment - statistics & numerical data; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Risk factor; Risk Factors; Sampling Studies; Stress, Psychological - psychology; Surveys and Questionnaires; Temperament - classification
• ISSN: 0165-0327; 1573-2517
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2007.08.017

Abstract Introduction This study investigates the role of harm avoidance (HA) as a possible risk factor in the familiality of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). HA is considered to be a genetically influenced personality trait with an increasingly understood neuroanatomical basis. Method 75 subjects with OCD from hospital sites and a community sample and their 152 first degree relatives and 75 age and sex matched controls with their 143 first degree relatives were evaluated with structured clinical interviews (DSM-IV). HA was assessed with Cloninger's Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ). Results Subjects with OCD had higher scores of HA than controls ( p ≤ 0.001). First degree relatives of OCD cases also showed higher HA than relatives of control subjects ( p = 0.001).These results remained stable when comparing only OCD subjects versus controls ( p ≤ 0.001) and relatives of OCD cases versus relatives of controls ( p = 0.005) without current comorbid disorders. Limitations The investigation of HA alone does not allow to disentangle the transmission of biological versus psychological factors related to an elevated level of anxiety in families of OCD cases. Conclusion This is the first study to extent previous findings of elevated HA in OCD cases to their first degree relatives. Thus, HA may partially mediate the familial risk for OCD.