Premium
Association Between Polygenic Risk and Symptom Severity Change After Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Obsessive‐Compulsive Disorder
Author(s) -
Bäckman Julia,
Wallert John,
Halvorsen Matthew,
Roelstraete Bjorn,
Schipper Elles,
Strom Nora I.,
Eide Thorstein Olsen,
Höffler Kira D.,
Mattheisen Manuel,
Hansen Bjarne,
Kvale Gerd,
Hagen Kristen,
Haavik Jan,
MataixCols David,
Rück Christian,
Crowley James J.
Publication year - 2025
Publication title -
american journal of medical genetics part b: neuropsychiatric genetics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.393
H-Index - 126
eISSN - 1552-485X
pISSN - 1552-4841
DOI - 10.1002/ajmg.b.33026
Subject(s) - schizophrenia (object oriented programming) , clinical psychology , cognition , medicine , psychiatry , association (psychology) , cognitive behavioral therapy , obsessive compulsive , psychological intervention , psychology , psychotherapist
ABSTRACT A large proportion of patients undergoing cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) for obsessive‐compulsive disorder (OCD) do not respond sufficiently to treatment. Identifying predictors for change in symptom severity after treatment could inform clinical decision‐making, allow for better‐tailored interventions, and avoid treatment failure. Prior research on predictors for treatment response has, however, yielded inconsistent findings with limited clinical utility. Here, we investigated the predictive power of nine polygenic risk scores (PRSs) for psychiatric and cognitive traits in 1598 OCD patients (1167 adults and 431 children/adolescents) treated with CBT in Sweden and Norway. We fitted linear mixed models adjusted for age, sex, genotyping batch, and the first five ancestry PCs to estimate associations between PRS and symptom severity change from pre‐ to post‐treatment. The PRS for schizophrenia showed a modestly significant association with symptom change ( β = 0.013, p = 0.04, R 2 = 0.10), indicating that a higher PRS for schizophrenia was associated with a smaller decrease in symptom severity. No other PRS were significantly associated with the outcome. While these results await replication and expansion, current PRS for psychiatric and cognitive phenotypes do not seem to contribute meaningfully to symptom severity change in CBT for OCD.