Long-term stability in obsessive thoughts and compulsive behavior in the general population: a longitudinal study in Sweden

Figures & data

Table 1. OCD and OC symptom prevalence at baseline and follow-up in the cohort, with 95% confidence intervals.

	Baseline (n = 5611)						Follow up (n = 5522)
	Symptoms (OCS)			Symptoms and Suffering (OCD)			Symptoms (OCS)			Symptoms and Suffering (OCD)
	n	%	95 % CI	n	%	95 % CI	N	%	95 % CI	N	%	95 % CI
Washing	118	2.1	1.7–2.5	26	0.5	0.3–0.6	66	1.2	0.9–1.5	18	0.3	0.2–0.5
Control	506	9.0	8.3–9.8	74	1.3	1.0–1.6	408	7.4	6.7–8.1	58	1.1	0.8–1.3
Thoughts	658	11.7	10.9–12.6	286	5.1	4.5–5.7	492	8.9	8.2–9.7	240	4.4	3.8–4.9
Any Symptom	1,060	18.9	17.9–19.9	293	5.2	4.6–5.8	827	15.0	14.0–15.9	249	4.5	4.0–5.1

Table 2. Prevalence of OC symptoms OCD and at baseline and at follow up.

	Baseline					Follow-up
		OCS		OCD			OCS		OCD
	n	%	95% CI	%	95 % CI	N	%	95 % CI	%	95 % CI
Sex
Women	3,307	13.7	12.6– 14.9	5.7	5.0–6.5	3260	10.1	9.0–11.1	5.4	4.6–6.1
Men	2,304	13.6	12.2–15.0	4.5	3.6–5.3	2262	11.1	9.8–12.3	3.7	2.9–4.5
Age
20–29	1,028	19.8	17.4–22.3	6.5	5.0– 8.0	1012	11.2	9.2–13.1	6.3	4.8–7.8
30–39	1,242	13.0	11.2–14.9	5.4	4.1–6.7	1228	9.8	8.1–11.4	4.9	3.7–6.1
40–49	1,248	11.1	9.4–12.9	6.0	4.7–7.3	1232	10.3	8.6–11.0	5.4	4.1–6.6
50–59	1,564	12.0	10.4 − 13.6	4.2	3.2–5.2	1534	9.8	8.4–11.3	3.5	2.6–4.4
60–65	529	14.0	11.0–16.9	3.4	1.9–4.9	516	13.0	10.1–15.9	2.9	1.5–4.4

Table 3. Prevalence of being symptom-free, having OCS symptoms and OCD at follow-up across baseline status (5522).

Baseline status	Follow-up status
	Symptom-free	OCS	OCD
	% (95 % CI)	% (95 % CI)	% (95 % CI)
Full Cohort
Symptom-free (n = 4471)	91.4 (90.6–92.3)	5.7 (5.0–6.3)	2.8 (2.4–3.4)
OCS (n = 759)	57.8 (54.3–61.4)	34.1 (30.8–37.5)	8.0 (6.0–10.0)
OCD (n = 292)	54.1 (48.4–59.8)	22.6 (17.8–27.4)	23.3 (18.4–28.1)
Among medicated
Symptom-free (n = 257)	84.8 (80.4–89.2)	7.8 (4.5–11.0)	7.4 (4.2–10.6)
OCS (n = 62)	51.6 (39.1–64.1)	33.9 (22.0–45.7)	14.5 (5.7–23.3)
OCD (n = 48)	35.4 (21.8–49.0)	20.8 (9.3–32.4)	43.8 (29.7–57.8)
Among non-medicated
Symptom-free (n = 4214)	91.8 (91.0–92.7)	5.5 (4.8–6.2)	2.6 (2.2–3.1)
OCS (n = 697)	58.4 (54.7–62.1)	34.1 (30.6–37.7)	7.5 (5.5–9.4)
OCD (n = 244)	57.8 (51.6–64.0)	23.0 (17.7–28.2)	19.3 (14.3–24.2)

Note: Bold (main diagonal) indicates stable groups; above the main diagonal is deterioration, below main diagonal recovery and remission.

Table 4. Longitudinal associations, Odds Ratio from multinomial logistic regression, with 95% confidence intervals.

Model	OCS		OCD
	OR	95 % CI	OR	95 % CI
Crude (n = 5493)
OCS	9.4	7.7–11.5	4.4	3.2–6.0
OCD	6.7	4.9–9.2	13.4	9.6–18.7
Model 1 (n = 5493)
OCS	9.6	7.8–11.6	4.3	3.1–6.0
OCD	6.8	5.0–9.4	12.9	9.2–18.0
Model 2 (n = 5493)
OCS	9.4	7.7–11.5	4.1	2.9–5.6
OCD	6.5	4.7–9.0	11.2	7.9–15.7
Model 3 (n = 5493)
OCS	9.3	7.7–11.5	4.0	2.9–5.6
OCD	6.4	4.7–8.8	10.2	7.2–14.4
Coexisting syndrome
Model 4 (n = 5493)
OCS	9.3	7.6–11.4	4.0	2.9–5.6
OCD	6.3	4.6–8.7	10.7	7.5–15.1
Model 5 (n = 5493)
OCS	9.2	7.5–11.3	3.9	2.8–5.4
OCD	5.9	4.3–8.2	8.1	5.7–11.7
Model 6 (n = 5493)
OCS	8.8	7.1–10.8	3.4	2.4–4.7
OCD	4.9	3.5–6.9	5.5	3.7–8.1
Model 7 (n = ,493)
OCS	8.4	6.8–10,.5	3.4	2.4–4.7
OCD	5.1	3.6–7.3	6.2	4.2–9.1
Model 8 (n = 5493)
OCS	9.1	7.4–11.1	3.3	2.4–4.6
OCD	5.3	3.7–7.5	4.3	2.9–6.4
Model 9 (n = 5493)
OCS	8.4	6.8–10.5	3.0	2.0–4.2
OCD	5.0	3.4–7.4	3.3	2.1–5.12
Model 10 (n = 5493)
OCS	8.4	6.8–10.5	3.0	2.1 4.2
OCD	5.1	3.4–7.5	3.4	2.2–5.4

Note:

Model 1 adjusted for age.

Model 2 adjusted for age and log-income.

Model 3 adjusted for age, income and SSRI/TCA.

Model 4 adjusted for age and agoraphobia.

Model 5 adjusted for age and social anxiety.

Model 6 adjusted for age and panic attacks.

Model 7 adjusted for age and generalized anxiety.

Model 8 adjusted for age and depression.

Model 9 adjusted for age, anxiety and depression.

Model 10 adjusted for age, anxiety and depression and SSRI/TCA.

Data availability

Data for the current study can be accessed through The Swedish National Data Service (SND), a digital research data repository held at the University of Gothenburg and run by a consortium of Swedish universities (snd.gu.se).