Quality of life in children with OCD with and without comorbidity

BACKGROUND: Quality of life (QoL) is a well-established outcome measure. However, in contrast to adult obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), little is known about QoL in children with OCD. This study aimed to assess QoL, social competence and school functioning of paediatric patients with OCD by comparing them with the general population and assessing the relations between comorbidity, duration and severity of symptoms, family accommodation and QoL. METHODS: Children and adolescents (n = 135), aged 7–17 (mean 13 [SD 2.7] years; 48.1% female) were assessed at baseline for treatment. QoL was assessed by self-report and caregiver’s proxy report on the Questionnaire for Measuring Health-related Quality of Life in Children and Adolescents (KINDL-R) and compared with an age- and sex-matched sample from the general population. Social competence and school functioning were assessed with the Child Behavior Checklist, comorbidity with the Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia (Present and Lifetime Version), severity of OCD with the Children’s Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale and the families’ involvement with the child’s OCD symptoms with the Family Accommodation Scale. RESULTS: QoL and social competence were reduced (p < .001) in patients with OCD compared with controls (KINDL-R mean score 62.40 [SD 13.00] versus 69.72 [12.38] in self-reports and 61.63 [SD 13.27] versus 74.68 [9.97] in parent reports). Patients with comorbidity had lower QoL (p = .001) in proxy ratings than those with OCD only (mean score 56.26 [SD 12.47] versus 64.30 [SD 12.75]). In parent proxy reports, severity of OCD (r = −.28) and family accommodation (r = −.40) correlated moderately negatively with QoL. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this is the largest QoL study of paediatric OCD. QoL was markedly reduced in children with OCD, especially in those with comorbid psychiatric disorders. Based on our findings, we suggest employing QoL assessment in order to have a more comprehensive understanding of childhood OCD. CLINICAL TRIALS REGISTRATION INFORMATION: This study was registered in Current Controlled Trials; Nordic Long-term Obsessive Compulsive disorder (OCD) Treatment Study (ISRCTN66385119).