The Effect of Atorvastatin on Obsessive-compulsive Symptoms of Refractory Obsessive-compulsive Disorder (Add-on Therapy)

BACKGROUND: Considering the effect of statins on the regulation of dopamine neurotransmitters and glutamates and importance of the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) due to its relatively high prevalence and disability of available drugs in treatment of many patients, we came to the point to examine effectiveness of statins in patients with OCD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study is a double-blind randomized clinical trial, which is done in OCD clinic of Isfahan Shariati in 2014 for 1 year. The target population consists of 64 patients with OCD; one group is given a daily 40 mg atorvastatin tablets and the other group receives placebo. At baseline, 4- and 8-week severities of obsessive-compulsive symptoms are measured using Yale–Brown scale and compared in the two groups. RESULTS: The study results show a statistically significant difference between the two groups of intervention and control (P < 0.001). Furthermore, the results show the intervention effect at the end of the 4(th) week and 8(th) week (P < 0.001) that this change is evident in the 4(th) week but remained almost constant in the 8(th) week. CONCLUSION: Overall, the evidences obtained from the study declare the effects of adding statins to treat obsessive-compulsive symptoms.