A Meta-analytic Study on Executive Function Performance in Children/Adolescents with OCD

The main objective of this work was to carry out a meta-analytical study to examine performance in executive functions in children/adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Method: A comprehensive literature search from 1984 to September 2021 was con-ducted, selecting a total of 20 publi...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: López Hernández, Paloma, Sánchez Meca, Julio, Rosa Alcázar, Ángel, Rosa Alcázar, Ana Isabel
Format: article
Publication Date:2022
Country:España
Institution:Universidad de Murcia
Repository:DIGITUM. Depósito Digital Institucional de la Universidad de Murcia
OAI Identifier:oai:digitum.um.es:10201/125527
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.6018/analesps.305411
http://hdl.handle.net/10201/125527
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:Obsessive-compulsive disorder
Executive function
Children
Adolescents
Trastorno obsesivo-compulsivo
Funciones ejecutivas
Niños
Adolescentes
CDU::1 - Filosofía y psicología::159.9 - Psicología
Description
Summary:The main objective of this work was to carry out a meta-analytical study to examine performance in executive functions in children/adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Method: A comprehensive literature search from 1984 to September 2021 was con-ducted, selecting a total of 20 published studies comparing executive func-tion outcomes among a group of children and/or adolescents with OCD and a healthy control group. Results: Results showed that the total score on the quality scale of studies ranged between 3 and 8.5 points (on a scale of 0 to 9), with a mean of 6.6. The effect sizes in the different executive func-tions were as follows: Inhibition (d+ = -0.221), Cognitive flexibility (d+ = -0.418), Decision making (d+ = -0.169) and Planning (d+ = -0.319), indicat-ing a lower performance in the OCD groups compared to the healthy con-trol groups. Results were clinically significant in all domains except deci-sion making. Publication bias could only be carried out in flexibility and re-sponse inhibition. Conclusions: OCD patients presented worse executive performance than healthy controls in all functions, highlighting cognitive flexibility and planning. However, results should be interpreted with cau-tion due to the small sample size.