Simple Peripheral Markers for Inflammation in Drug-Naive, Comorbidity-Free Adolescents with Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder

INTRODUCTION: Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) is a psychiatric disorder which has different etiopathogenic mechanisms. One of these mechanisms is immunologic factors. Studies on immunologic factors, various cytokines and cellular elements were investigated. In order to evaluate the immunological factors in psychiatric disorders, a simple and inexpensive method, hemogram parameters have been investigated. We aimed to evaluate hemogram parameters in drug-naive, comorbidity-free adolescents with OCD comparing with controls.
METHODS: A total of 31 patients diagnosed with OCD, who do not have comorbid diseases and do not take any medical therapy within the past one month, were included in the study. The control group consisted of 47 healthy subjects with no organic and psychiatric disorders.
RESULTS: Lymphocytes, RDW, platelets, and PCT values of the adolescents with OCD were significantly lower than those of the control group. There were no differences between the two groups in terms of WBC, hemoglobin, RBC, HCT, MCV, MCH, MCHC, MPV, Neutrophils, neutrophil–lymphocyte ratio, and platelet-lymphocyte ratio.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The findings of the study reveal that lymphocytes and RDW tend to be lower in adolescents with OCD. The findings of our study are consistent with those of previous studies, indicating decreased hemogram parameters associated with inflammation in adolescents with OCD. Our study suggest that we need further study to fully understand the role of inflammation in the etiology and treatment of OCD, and follow-up studies should focus on the process of inflammation in psychiatric diseases in children and adolescents.