Symmetry Dimension in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: Prevalence, Severity and Clinical Correlates

• Published in: Journal of clinical medicine Vol. 10; no. 2; p. 274
• Main Authors: Vellozo, Aline P, Fontenelle, Leonardo F, Torresan, Ricardo C, Shavitt, Roseli G, Ferrão, Ygor A, Rosário, Maria C, Miguel, Euripedes C, Torres, Albina R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 13-01-2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Anxiety; Bipolar disorder; Bulimia; Comorbidity; Drug use; Interviews; Panic attacks; Patients; Post traumatic stress disorder; Questionnaires; Symmetry; phenomenology; symptom dimensions; obsessive–compulsive disorder; symmetry dimension; clinical features
• ISSN: 2077-0383; 2077-0383
• DOI: 10.3390/jcm10020274

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a very heterogeneous condition that frequently includes symptoms of the "symmetry dimension" (i.e., obsessions and/or compulsions of symmetry, ordering, repetition, and counting), along with aggressive, sexual/religious, contamination/cleaning, and hoarding dimensions.
This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate the prevalence, severity, and demographic and clinical correlates of the symmetry dimension among 1001 outpatients from the Brazilian Research Consortium on Obsessive-Compulsive Spectrum Disorders. The main assessment instruments used were the Dimensional Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale, the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale, the USP-Sensory Phenomena Scale, the Beck Depression and Anxiety Inventories, the Brown Assessment of Beliefs Scale, and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders. Chi-square tests, Fisher's exact tests, Student's
-tests, and Mann-Whitney tests were used in the bivariate analyses to compare patients with and without symptoms of the symmetry dimension. Odds ratios (ORs) with confidence intervals and Cohen's D were also calculated as effect size measures. Finally, a logistic regression was performed to control for confounders.
The symmetry dimension was highly prevalent (86.8%) in this large clinical sample and, in the logistic regression, it remained associated with earlier onset of obsessive-compulsive symptoms, insidious onset of compulsions, more severe depressive symptoms, and presence of sensory phenomena.
A deeper knowledge about specific OCD dimensions is essential for a better understanding and management of this complex and multifaceted disorder.