Objective: Our goal is to assess the prevalence of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) among those who provide care for individuals with Parkinson’s disease (PD). Additionally, we identify caregiver risk variables for OCD incidence.

Background: OCD is a behavioral and mental illness. This mental illness causes one to feel forced to do certain repetitive things and develop unpleasant ideas. This illness severely impacts the patient’s capacity and function. Conversely, if a patient’s caregiver suffers from OCD, it can negatively impact the course of treatment of the patients, particularly those with chronic neurologic diseases like Parkinson’s disease. In the meanwhile, this disorder is typically underdiagnosed in those who care for other patients.

Method: Data on caregivers was collected from the hospital’s movement disorders specialist clinic in Tehran, Iran’s capital. A hundred patients with PD whose caregivers were present were included. The Obsessive Compulsive Inventory—Revised (OCI-R) was used to test OCD criteria in caregivers and ask them about their primary characteristics.

Results: Based on the OCI-R scale, OCD prevalence among PD caregivers was 49% overall, which is statistically significant compared to the general population (P value<0.05). In terms of gender distribution, 41% of people were men and 59% of women. 73% of caregivers were married, and 48% of them were the spouse of the PD patient. 6% of the population had a history of mental illness, and 8.5% had a family history of mental illness. From our variables, we were unable to identify any potential risk factors for OCD occurrence.

Conclusion: OCD affects caregivers of PD patients widely and is a crippling issue. According to the caregiver’s assessments, the likelihood of getting OCD was significantly higher than that of the general population. Additionally, our data reveals that neither the individual’s characteristics nor the Parkinson’s patient’s features affected the likelihood of OCD in the caregivers.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/obsessive-compulsive-disorder-prevalence-in-parkinsons-disease-caregivers/