TY - JOUR
T1 - The relationship between eating disorders and OCD symptom dimensions
T2 - An explorative study in a large sample of patients with OCD
AU - Danner, Unna N.
AU - Sternheim, Lot C.
AU - van Oppen, Patricia
AU - Hendriks, Gert-Jan
AU - van Balkom, Ton J. L. M.
AU - Cath, Danielle C.
N1 - Funding Information:
The research infrastructure needed to complete the baseline measurements (including personnel and materials) is financed almost exclusively by the participating organizations (Academic Department of Psychiatry, VU Medical Centre/GGZ inGeest, Amsterdam, the Netherlands; Marina de Wolf Centre for Anxiety Research, Ermelo; Centre for Anxiety Disorders “Overwaal”, Lent; Dimence, GGZ Overijssel; Department of Psychiatry, Leiden University Medical Centre, Leiden; Mental Health Care Centre Noord-en Midden-Limburg, Venray; Academic Anxiety Centre, PsyQ Maastricht, Maastricht University, Division Mental Health and Neuroscience). The fieldwork coordinator was financed for one year by a research grant from the Stichting Steun.
Funding Information:
In all, these findings support viewing subtypes of OCD and ED as symptom dimensions rather than as different diagnostic categories, and support adopting a more transdiagnostic approach across OCD and ED diagnoses, not only in the exploration of etiological relationships but also when designing treatments. Previous research has shown that having both disorders, and in particular having OCD prior to ED, can lead to more persistent OCD (Micali et al., 2011), a poorer prognosis (Carrot et al., 2017) and that it is important to pay attention to both disorders in treatment as it is likely that not all eating disorder symptoms will improve with the OCD (Bang et al., 2020). There may be underlying traits, i.e. impulsivity/loss of control (Altman & Shankman, 2009) that can be targeted instead of purely focusing on symptom reduction.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Elsevier Inc.
PY - 2022/10/1
Y1 - 2022/10/1
N2 - Objectives: This study aimed to describe lifetime and current rates of occurrence of comorbid eating disorders (ED) in a large clinical OCD sample, and to investigate whether comorbid ED in OCD (OCD+ED) are associated with specific demographic, somatic or clinical characteristics. Method: Data were obtained from the Netherlands Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Association (NOCDA) study. A sample of 419 participants with lifetime OCD was evaluated on co-occurrence with ED. Results: Lifetime comorbidity with ED occurred in 44 patients (10.5% of the sample), a frequency that exceeds prevalence rates in the normal population. Patients with OCD+ED were on average overweight compared to OCD-ED. The OCD+ED group reported more aggression and checking symptoms and had a younger age of onset of OCD. Further, more comorbidity with MDD, social phobia, PTSD, and depression and anxiety symptoms was reported. Conclusion: Patients with OCD+ED seem to clinically represent a sub-group of OCD with more severe psychopathology, and specifically with trauma-related factors and comorbid anxiety and depressive symptoms. Future studies using a longitudinal design should focus on whether patients with OCD+ED differ regarding course characteristics from patients with OCD-ED. Finally, comorbidity with depression, social anxiety and trauma should be taken into account in treatment of patients with OCD+ED.
AB - Objectives: This study aimed to describe lifetime and current rates of occurrence of comorbid eating disorders (ED) in a large clinical OCD sample, and to investigate whether comorbid ED in OCD (OCD+ED) are associated with specific demographic, somatic or clinical characteristics. Method: Data were obtained from the Netherlands Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Association (NOCDA) study. A sample of 419 participants with lifetime OCD was evaluated on co-occurrence with ED. Results: Lifetime comorbidity with ED occurred in 44 patients (10.5% of the sample), a frequency that exceeds prevalence rates in the normal population. Patients with OCD+ED were on average overweight compared to OCD-ED. The OCD+ED group reported more aggression and checking symptoms and had a younger age of onset of OCD. Further, more comorbidity with MDD, social phobia, PTSD, and depression and anxiety symptoms was reported. Conclusion: Patients with OCD+ED seem to clinically represent a sub-group of OCD with more severe psychopathology, and specifically with trauma-related factors and comorbid anxiety and depressive symptoms. Future studies using a longitudinal design should focus on whether patients with OCD+ED differ regarding course characteristics from patients with OCD-ED. Finally, comorbidity with depression, social anxiety and trauma should be taken into account in treatment of patients with OCD+ED.
KW - Anorexia nervosa
KW - Binge eating disorder
KW - Co-morbidity
KW - Eating disorders
KW - Obsessive compulsive disorder
KW - Prevalence
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85141312751
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85141312751
U2 - 10.1016/j.jocrd.2022.100759
DO - 10.1016/j.jocrd.2022.100759
M3 - Article
SN - 2211-3649
VL - 35
JO - JOURNAL OF OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE AND RELATED DISORDERS
JF - JOURNAL OF OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE AND RELATED DISORDERS
M1 - 100759
ER -