| ORIGINAL ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2016 | Volume
: 37
| Issue : 3 | Page : 125-131 |
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Neurological soft signs and insight in obsessive–compulsive disorder
Nagda M Elmasry MD 1, Amira M Youssef1, Amany E Mohamed1, Waleed R Ashour2
1 Psychiatry Department, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt
2 Neurology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt
Correspondence Address:
Nagda M Elmasry
Psychiatry Department, Faculty of Medicine, Zagazig University, Zagazig
Egypt
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/1110-1105.195543
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Background Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is an anxiety disorder characterized by the presence of obsessions and compulsions that interfere with the patient’s life. It has been shown that patients with OCD have increased rates of neurological soft signs (NSS) when compared with healthy controls. NSS are minor abnormalities like poor motor coordination, sensory and perceptual difficulties, and difficulties in sequencing of complex motor tasks. It has been suggested that OCD patients with poor insight are at the most severe end of this spectrum.
Aim of the work The aim of this study was to determine the frequency pattern of symptoms (obsessions and compulsions) in OCD patients, to examine NSS in patients compared with healthy individuals, and find any correlation between NSS scores and the severity of OCDs [total Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (YBOCS) score] and the degree of insight.
Participants and methods The study included two groups: 30 OCD patients and 30 healthy individuals as controls. Both groups were subjected to psychiatric and neurological examination using the Cambridge Neurological Inventory (Part 2), the YBOCS checklist to detect types of obsessions and compulsions, and the Overvalued Ideas Scale to assess the degree of insight in OCD patients.
Results The most common types of obsessions and compulsions among the patients were religious (70%), contamination (77%), and cleaning compulsions (77%). OCD patients recorded significantly higher total scores of NSS and domain scores (motor coordination, sensory integration, and primitive reflexes) compared with the control group (P<0.05). A positive correlation was found between NSS scores and total YBOCS scores and Overvalued Ideas Scale scores.
Conclusion We conclude that OCD patients have higher scores for NSS compared with controls, particularly for motor coordination signs. NSS positively correlated with the severity of disease. There was a positive correlation between NSS scores and OVIS scores, which measures the degree of insight. |
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