Screening for Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Using the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Child Version.

Area of Science:

• Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
• Psychometric Validation
• Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Background:

• Accurate diagnosis of pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is crucial for timely intervention.
• The Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Child Version (OCI-CV) is a widely used screening tool.
• Validation of the OCI-CV's diagnostic accuracy in diverse pediatric populations is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the diagnostic performance of the OCI-CV in identifying pediatric OCD.
• To determine optimal cut-scores for the OCI-CV using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses.
• To compare the OCI-CV's effectiveness across different comparison groups (OCD vs. other psychiatric disorders vs. healthy controls).

Main Methods:

• A sample of 755 participants aged 7-18 years was recruited, including 114 with current OCD, 340 with other psychiatric disorders (OPD), and 301 healthy controls (HC).
• Participants underwent assessment using two semi-structured interviews and seven rating scales.
• Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analyses were performed to assess the OCI-CV's ability to discriminate between groups and identify optimal cut-scores.

Main Results:

• The OCI-CV demonstrated strong discriminatory power, with optimal cut-scores yielding high areas under the curve (AUCs).
• In distinguishing OCD from all other participants, the optimal cut-score was 11 (AUC = .88).
• When comparing OCD to OPD, the optimal cut-score was 11 (AUC = .82); when comparing OCD to HC, the optimal cut-score was 10 (AUC = .94).

Conclusions:

• The OCI-CV is an effective screening tool for pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder.
• Empirically derived cut-scores enhance the OCI-CV's utility in clinical settings.
• The findings support the use of the OCI-CV for identifying children and adolescents with potential OCD.