Neuropsychological study of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder and their parents in China: searching for potential endophenotypes

The existence of neuropsychological deficits has been implicated in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), particularly memory, attention, and executive functions. However, few studies have focused on neuropsychological deficits in the relatives of OCD patients. The aim of this study was to investigate cognitive deficits in OCD patients and their parents. Forty patients with OCD, 48 parents of these patients, and 87 healthy controls completed a neuropsychological testing battery. Both OCD patients and their parents showed impairments in delayed verbal memory and delayed visual memory. Furthermore, they performed worse than healthy controls in problem-solving ability. Our study demonstrated familial aggregation of delayed memory deficits and impaired problem-solving ability, which may be the potential neuropsychological endophenotypes of hereditary susceptibility to OCD.