Background
To examine the relationship between obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and attention
deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents using familial risk
analysis.
Methods
We assessed for ADHD and OCD in the 1057 first-degree relatives of three groups of
index children: those with OCD and ADHD, those with OCD but no ADHD and matched controls
with neither disorder.
Results
The age-corrected risk for OCD was similarly elevated in families of OCD youth with
(14.8%) and without ADHD (17.5%) (p = .78), and both groups had significantly higher rates of OCD compared with controls
(.5%) (p < .001). In contrast, the risk for ADHD was significantly elevated only among relatives
of youth who had ADHD (15.3%) compared with controls (4.6%) (p < .001). Relatives affected with ADHD also had a significantly elevated risk for
OCD compared to relatives unaffected by ADHD (20% vs. 4.9%, hazard ratio 4.8) (p < .001) and the two disorders occurred together with higher than expected frequency
in affected relatives of OCD+ADHD probands (p < . 001) suggesting co-segregation between these two disorders. There was no evidence
of nonrandom mating between OCD- and ADHD-affected spouses.
Conclusions
These results extend previous findings regarding the familiality of both OCD and ADHD
and provide further evidence of a familial relationship between ADHD and pediatric
OCD which best fit the hypothesis of a unique familial subtype.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 22, 2007
Accepted:
September 26,
2006
Received in revised form:
September 7,
2006
Received:
June 1,
2006
Identification
Copyright
© 2007 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
