AUTHOR=Otte Johanna , Schicktanz Nathalie , Bentz Dorothée 

TITLE=Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on obsessive-compulsive symptoms in the Swiss general population

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 14 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1071205

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1071205

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=In the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, mental-health experts called attention to a possible deterioration of obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCSs). In particular, people suffering from a fear of contamination were considered a vulnerable population. 
The aim of this study was to investigate the change in OCSs from before to during the pandemic within the Swiss general population, and to examine a possible relationship of OCSs to stress and anxiety.
This cross-sectional study was implemented as an anonymized online survey (N = 3,486). The Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory Revised (OCI-R) was used to assess global OCS severity (range: 0-72, clinical cut-off > 18) and specific OCS dimensions (range: 0-12) during the second wave of the pandemic and retrospectively for before the pandemic. Participants were asked to report stress and anxiety in the previous two weeks before the survey.
Participants reported significantly higher OCI-R total scores during (12.87) compared to before the pandemic (9.04, mean delta increase: 3.69). Significantly more individuals reported an OCI-R total score exceeding the clinical cut-off during (24%) than before the pandemic (13%). OCS severity increased on all symptom dimensions, but was most pronounced on the washing dimension (all with p < 0.001). Self-reported stress and anxiety were weakly associated with differences in severity in total score and symptom dimensions (with R2 < 0.1 and p < 0.001).
Our results indicate that the full spectrum of people with OCS should be considered as risk groups for symptom deterioration during a pandemic and when assessing its possible long-term effects of such.