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Symptom dimensions in OCD: item-level factor analysis and heritability estimates.
Hilga Katerberg1, Kevin L Delucchi, S Evelyn Stewart
1Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Behavior Genetics
|April 3, 2010
Summary
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptom dimensions are heritable, with shared genetic influences between factors like taboo/doubts and contamination/cleaning. These findings aid genetic and clinical OCD research.
Area of Science:
- Psychiatry
- Behavioral Genetics
- Clinical Psychology
Background:
- Phenotypic heterogeneity in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) complicates genetic and clinical studies.
- Previous factor analyses of the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale checklist (YBOCS-CL) yielded inconsistent results due to methodological variations and small sample sizes.
- Limited data exists on the heritability of identified OCD symptom dimensions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To clarify the underlying factor structure of OCD symptoms using the YBOCS-CL.
- To investigate the heritability of these symptom dimensions.
- To explore shared genetic and environmental influences among OCD symptom dimensions and overall symptom severity.
Main Methods:
- Conducted item and category-level factor analyses on YBOCS-CL data from 1224 OCD subjects.
- Performed heritability analyses on 52 OCD-affected multigenerational families.
- Utilized bivariate analyses to examine shared genetic and environmental influences.
Main Results:
- A five-factor model (taboo, contamination/cleaning, doubts, superstitions/rituals, symmetry/hoarding) provided the best fit for YBOCS-CL items, with a one-factor solution also fitting well.
- All five factors and the one-factor solution demonstrated heritability.
- Shared genetic influences were observed between the taboo and doubts factors, and between the contamination and symmetry/hoarding factors.
- The contamination and symmetry/hoarding factors shared genetic variance with symptom severity.
- Most factors exhibited shared environmental variance with each other and with symptom severity.
Conclusions:
- The identified OCD symptom dimensions are heritable, supporting their utility in genetic and clinical research.
- Both shared and unique genetic factors contribute to OCD susceptibility and its symptom dimensions.
- Findings underscore the importance of considering symptom dimensions alongside the overall OCD diagnosis in research and clinical practice.
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