Prevalence, comorbidity, quality of life and use of services of obsessive-compulsive disorder and subthreshold obsessive-compulsive symptoms in the general adult population of Greece

Abstract

Objective: We aimed to describe the epidemiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and related subthreshold symptoms in the general population of Greece and to assess the comorbidity, use of health services and impact on quality of life of these syndromes in the general population.

Methods: This was a secondary analysis of the 2009–2010 general population Greek psychiatric morbidity survey (4902 participants living in private households, response rate 54%). Psychiatric disorders were assessed with the revised Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS-R). Quality of life was assessed with the EuroQoL EQ-5D.

Results: 1.69% of the participants (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.33%–2.05%) met criteria for current OCD while 2.79% met criteria for subthreshold obsessive-compulsive symptoms (95%CI: 2.33%–3.26%). In the adjusted analysis few sociodemographic associations remained statistically significant. Although the full-blown syndrome was more severe in terms of comorbidity and quality of life our results showed that even subthreshold obsessive-compulsive symptoms were associated with significant comorbidity and reductions in quality of life. Use of mental health services was small.

Conclusions: OCD is an under-treated public health problem that needs more attention in Greece and elsewhere. Provision of specialised mental health services should be a priority for publicly funded national health systems.

Keypoints

• OCD is common in the general population of Greece with few sociodemographic associations apart from subjective financial difficulties.

• The comorbidity pattern of the full-blown syndrome versus the subthreshold obsessive-compulsive symptoms is similar and differs in magnitude in the expected way.

• Quality of life in OCD is greatly reduced especially when there is chronicity and/or comorbidity with depression.

• Use of services is limited but comorbidity with depression may increase the chances of consultation with a mental health professional.

Keywords:

• Epidemiology
• obsessive-compulsive disorder
• adults
• comorbidity
• Greece/epidemiology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.