Otte Johanna, Schicktanz Nathalie, Bentz Dorothée
Division of Cognitive Neuroscience, Faculty of Psychology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
Transfaculty Research Platform Molecular and Cognitive Neurosciences (MCN), Faculty of Psychology, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
Front Psychol. 2023 Jun 20;14:1071205. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1071205. eCollection 2023.
In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, mental-health experts called attention to a possible deterioration of obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCSs). In particular, people suffering from a fear of contamination were considered a vulnerable population.
The aim of this study was to investigate the change in OCSs from before to during the pandemic within the Swiss general population, and to examine a possible relationship of OCSs to stress and anxiety.
This cross-sectional study was implemented as an anonymized online survey ( = 3,486). The Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Revised (OCI-R) was used to assess global OCS severity (range: 0-72, clinical cut-off > 18) and specific OCS dimensions (range: 0-12) during the second wave of the pandemic and retrospectively for before the pandemic. Participants were asked to report stress and anxiety in the previous 2 weeks before the survey.
Participants reported significantly higher OCI-R total scores during (12.73) compared to before the pandemic (9.04, mean delta increase: 3.69). Significantly more individuals reported an OCI-R total score exceeding the clinical cut-off during (24%) than before the pandemic (13%). OCS severity increased on all symptom dimensions, but was most pronounced on the washing dimension (all with < 0.001). Self-reported stress and anxiety were weakly associated with differences in severity in total score and symptom dimensions (with < 0.1 and < 0.001).
Our results indicate that the full spectrum of people with OCS should be considered as risk groups for symptom deterioration during a pandemic and when assessing its possible long-term effects of such.
在新冠疫情早期，心理健康专家呼吁关注强迫症症状（OCS）可能出现的恶化情况。尤其是，对污染有恐惧的人群被视为弱势群体。
本研究旨在调查瑞士普通人群在疫情期间与疫情前强迫症症状的变化，并研究强迫症症状与压力和焦虑之间可能存在的关系。
本横断面研究以匿名在线调查的形式开展（n = 3486）。采用修订版强迫症量表（OCI-R）评估疫情第二波期间的总体强迫症严重程度（范围：0 - 72，临床临界值>18）和特定的强迫症维度（范围：0 - 12），并回顾性评估疫情前的情况。参与者被要求报告调查前两周内的压力和焦虑情况。
与疫情前（9.04）相比，参与者在疫情期间报告的OCI-R总分显著更高（12.73，平均增量：3.69）。报告OCI-R总分超过临床临界值的个体在疫情期间（24%）明显多于疫情前（13%）。所有症状维度的强迫症严重程度均有所增加，但在洗涤维度最为明显（所有P < 0.001）。自我报告的压力和焦虑与总分及症状维度严重程度的差异弱相关（P < 0.1和P < 0.001）。
我们的结果表明，在疫情期间以及评估其可能的长期影响时，所有强迫症患者都应被视为症状恶化的风险群体。
