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Impairment of olfactory identification in obsessive–compulsive disorder

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 1999

R. BARNETT ,
P. MARUFF ,
R. PURCELL ,
K. WAINWRIGHT ,
M. KYRIOS ,
W. BREWER  and
C. PANTELIS
R. BARNETT
Affiliation:
Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria and Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, Melbourne; and School of Psychology, LaTrobe University, Victoria, Australia
P. MARUFF
Affiliation:
Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria and Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, Melbourne; and School of Psychology, LaTrobe University, Victoria, Australia
R. PURCELL
Affiliation:
Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria and Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, Melbourne; and School of Psychology, LaTrobe University, Victoria, Australia
K. WAINWRIGHT
Affiliation:
Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria and Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, Melbourne; and School of Psychology, LaTrobe University, Victoria, Australia
M. KYRIOS
Affiliation:
Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria and Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, Melbourne; and School of Psychology, LaTrobe University, Victoria, Australia
W. BREWER
Affiliation:
Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria and Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, Melbourne; and School of Psychology, LaTrobe University, Victoria, Australia
C. PANTELIS
Affiliation:
Mental Health Research Institute of Victoria and Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Melbourne and Royal Melbourne Hospital, Parkville, Melbourne; and School of Psychology, LaTrobe University, Victoria, Australia
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Abstract

Background. Olfactory identification ability has been associated with processing in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), an area that has been implicated in the pathophysiology of obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). Although olfactory sensitivity is normal in patients with OCD, no study has investigated olfactory identification in this disorder.

Methods. A group of 20 subjects with OCD and 23 age- and education-matched controls performed a standardized test of olfactory identification. They also performed computerized tests of spatial memory span, spatial working memory and spatial recognition memory that have been shown previously to be sensitive to cognitive deficits in patients with OCD.

Results. Performance on the olfactory identification task, spatial recognition task and spatial span task was significantly worse in the OCD group than controls.

Conclusions. While impairment in spatial cognition is consistent with previous studies of OCD, its significance for brain-behaviour models of OCD is unclear. However, the finding of abnormal olfactory identification in patients with OCD is consistent with the hypothesis that there is a disruption to processing at the level of the OFC in the disorder.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 29 , Issue 5 , September 1999 , pp. 1227 - 1233
Copyright
© 1999 Cambridge University Press

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