Comparison Between Cognitive Functions of Children and Adolescents with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Healthy Controls: a Neuropsychological Study of Large Sample

Objective: It is argued that different cognitive and neuropsychological features are involved in the presentation and permanency of symptoms in children and adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The aim of this study was to explore possible cognitive and neuropsychological variations between treatment-naive children and adolescents with OCD and healthy controls.Met hods: Children and adolescents with OCD aged between 8 and 16 years (n=45) and healthy controls matched for age, sex and hand preference (n=45) were recruited for the study. The groups were compared with the WISC-R, Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, Stroop Test-TBAG form, Trail Making Test A/B, verbal fluency and category fluency tests, category alteration test and the Rey auditory verbal learning test.Results: Despite the similar full-scale intelligence quotient (IQ) scores in the two groups, OCD group had significantly higher verbal IQ and lower performance IQ. We found weakness in visuospatial perception, visual scanning, immediate verbal memory and immediate verbal learning as well as cognitive strength in long-term verbal memory in OCD group. We could not detect any statistical differences in verbal fluency, attention, working memory, response inhibition, interference control, speed of information processing, psychomotor speed, set shifting, concept formation and abstract reasoning between the two groups.Conclusion: Some cognitive-neuropsychological weaknesses and strengths could be involved with presentation of OCD symptoms in children and adolescents. (Archives of Neuropsychiatry 2012; 49: 119-128)