background Obsessive compulsive disorder (ocd) is a heterogeneous disorder with suggested phenotypical differences. Recently, growing attention is directed to age of onset (aoo) as an important way of subtyping patients. Prior research indicated that ocd has a bimodal distribution of aoo with a peak of incidence in childhood and another in middle adulthood. The bimodal aoo of ocd suggests different etiological factors, and patients with early aoo are likely to have a stronger genetic or biological component than patients with late onset. However, an important limitation in the literature is the lack of consensus and the use of highly different criteria in defining early vs. late aoo of ocd.
aim To determine the age differentiating early and late aoo of ocd, and ascertaining group differences in demographic and clinical characteristics.
method Admixture analysis of 377 ocd patients.
results Results indicated that ocd patients with an aoo of 20 and above were more likely to belong to the late aoo group. Patients with early aoo were significantly younger, more likely to be single, and had fewer years of education compared to patients from the late aoo. In addition, patients with early aoo had significantly more tics, more adhd symptoms, more compulsions, and overall more ocd symptoms compared to patients with late aoo. No differences in frequency of other comorbid dsm-iv disorders were observed.
conclusion Our results suggest that early onset is associated with a graver clinical picture. Clinical implications and directions for future research will be further discussed.