Decision-making impairment in obsessive-compulsive disorder as measured by the Iowa Gambling Task.

OBJECTIVE

This study aims to evaluate the process of decision-making in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) using the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT). In addition, we intend to expand the understanding of clinical and demographic characteristics that influence decision-making.

METHOD

Our sample consisted of 214 subjects (107 diagnosed with OCD and 107 healthy controls) who were evaluated on their clinical, demographic and neuropsychological features. Moreover, the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT), a task that detects and measures decision-making impairments, was used.

RESULTS

We found that OCD patients performed significantly worse on the IGT. Furthermore, features such as symptoms of anxiety did not influence IGT performance.

CONCLUSION

Impaired decision-making seems to be a key feature of OCD. Given that OCD is a complex heterogeneous disorder, homogeneous groups are necessary for an accurate characterization of our findings.