Post-partum as a specific risk factor for the onset of obsessive-compulsive disorder: clinical-controlled study

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study is to evaluate the presence of triggering life-events for the onset of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in women (OCD). DESIGN: Clinical controlled study. SETTING: Service for depressive and anxiety disorders; Department of Neuroscience, Psychiatric Unit, University of Turin. METHODS: The study compares twenty-nine women with OCD (DSM-IV criteria) with twenty-nine healthy control women matched for demographic features and with twenty-nine women with Bulimia Nervosa (DSM-IV criteria) matched for age, age at onset, education and marital status. All patients were assessed with the Clinical Structured Interview for DSMIII-R (SCID) and with the Interview for Recent Life Event by Paykel. Moreover, OCD patients were assessed with the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) and bulimic patients with the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI). RESULTS: The study demonstrates that the only specific life event that is significantly associated with the onset of OCD is 'having a new born child' No significant differences in frequency and severity of stressing life events were found in the three groups. CONCLUSIONS: The results confirms the findings of our previous study: post partum is the only risk factor for the onset of OCD in female population, compared to healthy control. Furthermore, this research points-out the importance and the specificity of this association showing that post partum is not a risk factor in all psychiatric disorders.