Is obsessive-compulsive symptomotology a risk factor for alzheimer-type dementia?

Is Obsessive-Compulsive Symptomotology a risk factor for Alzheimer-Type Dementia? Objective: Previous studies obviously indicate that OCD patients have memory and other neurocognitive impairments. If there is a real memory deficit in patients with OCD, then pre-existing Obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCs) may predispose to chronic and progressive disorders like AD in later ages. Therefore, in the present study, our main purpose was to examine if OC symptoms might be a risk factor in the development of AD, like age, family history of AD, lower levels of education, female gender, personal or family history of depression. Method: Thirty-nine subjects (25 women and 14 men) with AD (group 1) were recruited consecutively from April 2012 to September 2013 at the neurology out-patient clinics of the Adnan Menderes University Hospital. The Alz-Control sample included 30 individuals (group 2) matched for age and sex. Thirty-two patients (group 3) with a diagnosis of OCD, and OCD-Control sample which included twenty-six individuals (group 4) matched for age and sex were also included in this study. All participants were administrated a Structured Clinical Interviews for DSM-IVAxis I Disorders (SCID-I) , for DSM-III-R Axis II Disorders (SCID-II), ADAS-Cog, Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE), Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), Hamilton Depression (HDRS) and Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scales (HARS). Results: OCD subjects performed significantly worse compared to the healthy control group in ADAS-Cog Word Recall and Word Recognition Task. AD patients performed significantly worse in total ADAS-Cog and items scores compared to the AD-Control group The mean number of lifetime and current OCs, the current total and subscale scores of Y-BOCS, the frequency of lifetime hoarding, symmetry/ordering, and checking obsessions and compulsions, the frequency of current hoarding and and checking obsessions and compulsions were more likely to be higher in AD group than in AD-Control group. Only hoarding symptoms seemed to be significantly higher in AD group compared to OCD group. OCPD seemed to be significantly more frequent in AD patients compared to control subjects. We have found no significant relationships between the total and subscale scores of Y-BOCS; mean number of lifetime and current OCs; the duration of OCs; and the severity of total and item scores of ADAS-Cog scale, duration of AD, the scores of HDRS, HARS, and MMSE.