An epidemiological study of prevalence and comorbidity of obsessive compulsive disorder symptoms (SOCD) and stress in Pakistani Adults

Objective: To investigate the prevalence and comorbidity of subclinical obsessive compulsive disorder (SOCD) symptoms and stress across gender, marital and employment statuses.

Methods: A cross-sectional research was conducted from December, 2016 to March 2017 at two universities of cosmopolitan city Lahore. Two self-report scales measuring SOCD symptoms and stress were used to collect data from 377 adults selected through simple random sampling technique, proportionately distributed across gender, marital and employment status.

Results: From the total sample, 52% reported low level of stress and 48% faced high level of stress. Significant differences in prevalence were observed across marital and employment statuses whereas for men and women, it was observed same (24%). Comorbidity of high level of SOCD symptoms and high level of stress was seen 34%.

Conclusion: Significant prevalence and comorbidity exists between SOCD symptoms and stress and more studies addressing diverse population are needed.