Study on prospective memory deficits of obsessive-compulsive disorder patients in the endophenotype framework

ObjectiveTo study the prospective memory deficits of obsessive-compulsive disorder patients and unaffected first-degree relatives of patients， so as to validate the possibility of prospective memory as an endophenotype of obsessive-compulsive disorder.MethodsHealthy controls， obsessive-compulsive disorder patients and unaffected first-degree relatives of patients， each with 25 cases， matched for age， education， gender， IQ and marriage status were enrolled. The standardized prospective memory paradigm with a multi-trial design was conducted， and the accuracy was used as an indicator of prospective memory function.ResultsThe accuracy of event- and time-based prospective memory tasks of obsessive-compulsive disorder patients was lower than that of healthy controls， with statistical differences ［（0.74±0.24） vs. （0.88±0.13）， d=-0.140， P=0.044； （0.77±0.21） vs. （0.93±0.10）， d=-0.164， P=0.011］. The accuracy of event-based prospective memory task of unaffected first-degree relatives was also lower than that of healthy controls， with statistical difference ［（0.73±0.20） vs. （0.88±0.13）， d=-0.144， P=0.036］.ConclusionObsessive-compulsive disorder patients has extensive prospective memory deficits， indicating that prospective memory may be an endophenotype of obsessive-compulsive disorder.