Prevalence of Urinary Complaints in Patients with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and its Relationship with Obsession, Anxiety, and Depression

Aim and A separate chapter of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) distributed in 2013 has been allocated to Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). It is defined as unwanted, repeated, and obtrusive beliefs, images, thoughts, and anxiety or repetitive mental behaviors and actions. Clinical evaluation of patients with OCD has revealed their complaints regarding urology symptoms. Therefore, it has been theorized that OCD is correlated with urology symptoms such as urination frequency.
Methods and Materials: This study was conducted on 100 patients with OCD referred to the OCD Clinic affiliated to Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Iran, in 12013. In order to determine the severity of the disorder, the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) was used. The Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) was used for the assessment of the degree of anxiety and depression. In addition, the Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms-Questionnaire (LUTS-Q) and a 25-item checklist were used for the evaluation of urinary symptoms. The data were analyzed using Student's t-distribution, one way ANOVA, chi-square test, and the Pearson coefficient in SPSS.
Findings: The average of urinary symptoms score was 11 ± 6.8 and ranged from 0 to 27. There was a direct correlation between urinary symptoms and OCD symptoms (P = 0.022). Moreover, there was direct correlation between anxiety and depression score and urinary symptoms (P In more than half of the participants, OCD was accompanied with urinary symptoms. In addition, 74% of patients had anxiety and depression disorder. Thus, these disorders require attention in the evaluation and treatment of patients with OCD and must be considered in their treatment interventions.