Refining clinical judgment of treatment outcome in obsessive–compulsive disorder

Abstract

This research aimed to provide clinicians and investigators with optimal treatment outcome criteria for accurately predicting response and remission in both research studies and clinical practice. Data from 153 adult OCD outpatients (ages 18–79) who had participated in a treatment outcome study were examined. Signal detection analysis was conducted to compare levels of Yale–Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) symptom percent reductions and post treatment absolute scores with Clinical Global Impression (CGI) ratings of symptom improvement and severity. Optimal cutoff criteria were based on sensitivity, specificity and efficiency and were assessed via the Quality Receiver Operating Characteristic curve. A Y-BOCS reduction of 45% was observed to be the most efficient for predicting response in research trials, whereas a reduction of 35% may be optimal for clinical use. A 55% Y-BOCS reduction was determined to be the optimal cutoff for predicting remission in both clinical and research settings. A Y-BOCS absolute raw score of 12 or less was optimal for predicting remission in a clinical setting and a raw score of 14 or below was most favorable in research trials. This research provides the first empirical contrast of optimal outcome criteria in OCD based on differing ideals of both research and practice.