ABSTRACT
This study was designed to compare the frequency of neurological soft signs [NSS] in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder [OCD] and healthy volunteers and to evaluate the applicability of these signs as a rest to identify patients with OCD among mixed population. The study comprised 20 patients with OCD diagnosed with the use of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition [DSM-IV] and 20 healthy volunteers of crossmatched age and sex as a control group. All study participants underwent a physical and neurological examination for soft signs [PANESS] by the neurologist who was blinded about the group enrollment. The frequency of occurrence of disturbances in these 7 main items was evaluated and the obtained results were redistributed according to group of study: Patients and controls. Only 8 patients [40%] were free of NSS: the other 12 patients [60%] showed varied NSS. On contrary, only 2 controls [10%] had NSS while the remaining 18 [90%] showed no NSS with a significantly increased [X[2]=5.8, p<0.01]frequency of NSS inpatients. Both patients and controls did not show NSS on examination of both motor movements and stereogonosis and no body had nystagmus. Three patients had apraxia and 3 had abnormal two-point discrimination: the other 6 patients had various combinations of abnormal results. There was a negative non-significant correlation between mean NSS scores and patients' age, sex and duration of symptoms. Using the receiver operating characteristic [ROC] curve analysis judged by the area under the curve [AUC] revealed that the presence of NSS could define patients with OCD out of a mixed population with high sensitivity but could not be considered specific for OCD as the AUC was 0.236. It could be concluded that the frequency of neurological soft signs is significantly higher in OCD patients and could identify them among a mixed population with high sensitivity but they are not specific to OCD