Amin A Muhammad Gadit.
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD): is this disorder under-recognized?.
J Pak Med Assoc Jan ;62(9):974-5.

Obsessive-Compulsive disorder is much more common than it was initially assumed. It can be a part of a major mental illness or can occur on its own. It was found that 1-year prevalence is in the range of 0.8-2.2 % in a study.1 There are some interesting figures on this mental disorder:2 1 in 200 young people at any time are suffering from OCD, boys are more likely to have an onset before puberty than girls, boys are also more likely to have a family member with OCD or Tourette Syndrome, 1-3% of population suffers from it, sexual obsessions are common in people with OCD, strong genetic basis has been revealed, five times more likely in first degree relatives of someone with OCD, 75% of patients with OCD have a secondary or co-morbid diagnosis, these patient benefit with therapy.The global incidence of OCD from W.H.O. indicate:" the smallest frequency is in China, Korea, Southeast Asia, Australia, New Zealand and Japan followed by India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Thailand, Indonesia, then, Western Europe and North America. A higher occurrence is found in Russia, Eastern Europe, Middle East, Africa, South and Central America with most severe incidence in Argentina and Uruguay."3 The World Health Report 2001 depicts the estimated burden of OCD to 2.5% of the total global YLDs.

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