Application of a staging model to a clinical sample of italian obsessive-compulsive patients.

Introduction: Clinical staging is based on the concept that psychiatric illnesses progress over time through successive stages marked by symptoms of increased clarity and intensity: from increased risk, asymptomatic to severe illness. A clinical staging model integrating the severity of symptoms and the phase of illness for personalized case management for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) patients has been proposed. Aim of the study is the application of this model to a sample of OCD Italian patients. Objectives: Aim of the study is the application of this model to a sample of OCD Italian patients. Methods: 188 patients with OCD were recruited and 32 patients completed a follow-up assessment. Patients were divided in four main stages (Stage 0: YBOCS 0 and family history for OCD; Stage 1: YBOCS 1-13; Stage 2: YBOCS 14-34; Stage 3: YBOCS 35-40) and then on 3 groups: no stage change, improvedstage or worsened stage between T0 and follow up. Results: 53.1% of the followed-up patients showed no changes on their stage, 37.5% improvedtheir stage and 9.4% showed a progression tothe worse stage. All patients with a worsened stage showed at least one psychiatric comorbidity and a significantly higherprevalence of somatic obsessions (p<.05). The age at onset of patients witha worsened stage was earlier compared to the other groups and theduration of untreated illness andduration of illness resulted almost two times higher compared to the other groups Conclusions: Preliminary results confirm the relevance of illness onset and early intervention in OCD. There is an emerging need of more stringent criteria for staging to better characterize OCD patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]