Background and objectives

Previous research has indicated that body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) often demonstrate similar cognitive impairments across multiple domains. However, findings for both disorders have not consistently shown impaired cognition. As such, BDD and OCD might share an overlapping pattern of cognitive heterogeneity, characterised by subgroups with different cognitive profiles.

Methods

To evaluate this possibility, we compared 26 BDD, 24 OCD, and 26 healthy control participants on a comprehensive eight-domain cognitive battery. Then, cluster analysis was performed on the BDD and OCD participants’ combined data to explore for cognitive subgroups.

Results

No significant differences were found between the three groups’ cognitive functioning, except for poorer visual learning in OCD relative to healthy controls. Cluster analysis produced two cognitive subgroups within the combined BDD and OCD data, characterised by intact cognition (52%) and broadly impaired cognition (48%). Each subgroup comprised both BDD and OCD participants, in similar proportions. The subgroups did not differ in clinical or demographic features.

Limitations

Sample sizes were moderate. Future research should investigate clustering patterns both in larger groups and separately in BDD and OCD samples to determine replicability.

Conclusions

These findings suggest that BDD and OCD may involve similar patterns of cognitive heterogeneity, and further imply that individuals with either disorder can show a wide range of cognitive profiles, thus necessitating a nuanced approach to future cognitive research in BDD and OCD.

中文翻译：

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躯体变形障碍和强迫症的交叉诊断认知异质性

背景和目标

先前的研究表明，身体变形障碍 (BDD) 和强迫症 (OCD) 通常在多个领域表现出类似的认知障碍。然而，这两种疾病的研究结果并未一致显示认知受损。因此，BDD 和 OCD 可能共享认知异质性的重叠模式，其特征是具有不同认知特征的亚组。

方法

为了评估这种可能性，我们比较了 26 名 BDD、24 名强迫症和 26 名健康对照参与者，他们在一个综合的八域认知电池组中进行了比较。然后，对 BDD 和 OCD 参与者的组合数据进行聚类分析，以探索认知亚组。

结果

三组的认知功能之间没有显着差异，除了相对于健康对照组而言，强迫症的视觉学习较差。聚类分析在组合的 BDD 和 OCD 数据中产生了两个认知亚组，其特征是完整的认知 (52%) 和广泛受损的认知 (48%)。每个亚组都包含 BDD 和 OCD 参与者，比例相似。亚组在临床或人口统计学特征方面没有差异。

限制

样本量适中。未来的研究应该在更大的群体中以及在 BDD 和 OCD 样本中分别研究聚类模式，以确定可重复性。

结论

这些发现表明 BDD 和 OCD 可能涉及相似的认知异质性模式，并进一步暗示患有任何一种疾病的个体都可以表现出广泛的认知特征，因此需要对 BDD 和 OCD 的未来认知研究采取一种微妙的方法。