Body dysmorphic symptoms in youth with Obsessive-compulsive disorder: Prevalence, clinical correlates, and cognitive behavioral therapy outcome.

Little is known about the prevalence and clinical correlates of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) symptoms in pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). This study estimates the prevalence of BDD symptoms in a sample of children and adolescents with OCD, investigating possible clinical correlates and whether BDD symptoms predict poorer treatment outcomes after cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). The study included 269 children and adolescents with OCD (DSM-IV), aged 7–17 years, from Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, who were treated with 14 weekly sessions of manualized, exposure-based CBT. OCD symptom severity was assessed with the Children’s Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (CY-BOCS). BDD symptoms were assessed using the CY-BOCS symptom checklist. Group differences in treatment outcomes were analyzed using linear mixed effect modeling. Twenty-one patients (7.8%) had BDD symptoms. BDD symptoms in young people were associated with older age (p = 0.003) and comorbid anxiety disorders were also more prevalent (p = 0.025). In addition, young people with BDD symptoms endorsed a greater number of obsessive and compulsive symptoms than did those without BDD symptoms. Having symptoms of BDD did not affect the CBT outcome. The results of the study suggest that CBT for OCD is equally effective for those with and without BDD symptoms