Recent life events and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD): the role of pregnancy/delivery

Conflicting results have been reported on the possible role of life events in triggering OCD onset. Moreover, pregnancy and/or delivery, among life ev ents, appear to influence the OCD course and, in some cases, appear related to its onset. Our purpose was to assess the occurrence of potentially trau matizing events among patients with oca, The study also provides an initial exploration of the association between OCD and pregnancy or delivery. The number and type of stressful life events which occurred in the 12 months be fore the onset of OCD were determined for both OCD patients (N = 68, 33 wom en and 35 men) and a group of comparison subjects (N = 68, 33 women and 35 men) by using a semistructured interview in accordance with Paykel's list. The results did not show a significant excess of Ile events in patients com pared with healthy subjects. No differences were detected between OCD patie nts according to gender. When examining the type of events, OCD female indi viduals were found to be more likely than normal female subjects to report exposure to postpartum events, and high rates of obstetric complications we re observed in these patients. Subjects with postpartum OCD had significant ly higher rates of aggressive obsessions to harm the newborn. OCD male subj ects did not show an association between a specific event and onset of the disorder. The findings confirm that the postpartum period represents a risk factor for OCD in some individuals, and suggest that obstetric complicatio ns may be relevant to the development of the disorder. (C) 1999 Elsevier Sc ience Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.