Department of Psychiatry, Nara Medical University School of Medicine, Kashihara, Japan.
Faculty of Nursing, Nara Medical University School of Medicine, Kashihara, Japan.
Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2017 Jan;71(1):36-43. doi: 10.1111/pcn.12465. Epub 2016 Nov 11.
Increasing clinical evidence points to impulsivity as a symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, little is known about its persistence over time.
In this study, we evaluated the performance of 12 pediatric patients with OCD on the Stroop color-word task, which assesses impulsivity, and compared this with age- and sex-matched controls. In parallel, we measured changes in hemodynamic responses during the task, using near-infrared spectroscopy. As patients in the OCD group were naïve to treatment, we compared results before and after 3-year medication with serotonin reuptake inhibitors.
We report that, compared with controls, the OCD group had significantly poorer performance and less activation in the prefrontal cortex during the Stroop color-word task. Surprisingly, while serotonin-reuptake-inhibitors treatment reduced OCD symptomology, it did not improve the diminished hemodynamic responses or task performance of these patients.
Our findings suggest that a persistent deficit exists in the inhibitory control of pediatric patients with OCD; they also provide insight into the pathophysiology of OCD.
越来越多的临床证据表明，冲动是强迫症（OCD）的一种症状。然而，目前对于其随时间推移的持续性知之甚少。
本研究中，我们评估了 12 名患有 OCD 的儿科患者在 Stroop 色词任务中的表现，该任务评估冲动性，并与年龄和性别匹配的对照组进行比较。同时，我们使用近红外光谱法测量任务过程中血液动力学反应的变化。由于 OCD 组的患者对治疗一无所知，我们比较了他们在 3 年 SSRIs 药物治疗前后的结果。
我们报告称，与对照组相比，OCD 组在 Stroop 色词任务中表现明显更差，前额叶皮层的激活程度更低。令人惊讶的是，虽然 SSRIs 治疗降低了 OCD 症状，但它并没有改善这些患者血液动力学反应或任务表现的降低。
我们的研究结果表明，患有 OCD 的儿科患者的抑制控制存在持续缺陷；它们还为 OCD 的病理生理学提供了深入的见解。
