Long- term remission status in pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder: Evaluating the predictive value of symptom severity after treatment

Sanne Jensen*, Erik L. Mortensen, Gudmundur Skarphedinsson, David R. M. A. Hojgaard, Katja A. Hybel, Judith B. Nissen, Tord Ivarsson, Bernhard Weidle, Nor C. Torp, Per H. Thomsen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)
18 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

It is unknown if long-term remission for pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients is associated with post-treatment OCD symptom severity. The aim of the present study was to evaluate if post-treatment symptom severity cut-offs can discriminate remitters from non-remitters in pediatric OCD patients during three years of follow-up. All participants (N = 269) from the Nordic Long-term OCD Treatment Study (Nor-dLOTS) undergoing stepped-care treatment were included. Patients were rated with the Clinical Global Impression - Severity Scale (CGI-S) one (n = 186), two (n = 167), and three years (n = 166) after first-line cognitive-behavioral therapy. Post-treatment symptom severity scores as well as percentage reductions during treatment evaluated with the Children's Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (CY-BOCS) were analyzed using receiver operating characteristics according to the CGI-S remission scores (< 2) at follow-up. Post-treatment CY-BOCS severity scores acceptably discriminated remitters from non-remitters at one-year follow-up, but poorly for the two-and three-year follow-up. Severity percentage reduction during treatment did not discriminate remis-sion status acceptably at any follow-up point. Post-treatment OCD symptom severity status seems to have little discriminative value for long-term remission status in pediatric patients. Further research is warranted to detect post-treatment factors of prognostic value.

Original languageEnglish
Article number114906
JournalPsychiatry Research
Volume317
Number of pages9
ISSN0165-1781
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2022

Keywords

  • Stepped -care treatment
  • Long-term study
  • Clinical assessment
  • Remission
  • Children and adolescents
  • Children?s Yale-brown obsessive-compulsive
  • Clinical global impression scale
  • COGNITIVE-BEHAVIOR THERAPY
  • SIGNAL-DETECTION ANALYSIS
  • DEFINING TREATMENT RESPONSE
  • FOLLOW-UP
  • PSYCHOMETRIC EVALUATION
  • CHILDREN
  • OCD
  • NONRESPONDERS
  • RELIABILITY
  • ADOLESCENTS

Cite this