Age at onset and clinical features of late life compulsive hoarding
Ayers CR et al. - Compulsive hoarding is a progressive and chronic condition that begins early in life. Left untreated, its severity increases with age. Compulsive hoarding should be considered a distinct clinical syndrome, separate from OCD. Unfortunately, compulsive hoarding is largely unrecognized and untreated in older adults. Methods- Participants were 18 older adults (60) with clinically significant compulsive hoarding.
- They were assessed using structured interviews, including the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI), Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID I), Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (YBOCS), and UCLA Hoarding Severity Scale (UHSS).
- Self-report Measures Included the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS), and Savings Inventory-Revised (SI-R).
- Psychosocial and medical histories were also obtained.
- To determine age at onset, participants were asked to rate their hoarding symptoms and describe major life events that occurred during each decade of their lives.
Results- Results show that (1) onset of compulsive hoarding symptoms was initially reported as being in mid-life but actually found to be in childhood or adolescence. No subjects reported late onset compulsive hoarding.
- (2) Compulsive hoarding severity increased with each decade of life.
- (3) Comorbid mood and anxiety disorders were common, but only 16% of patients met criteria for OCD if hoarding symptoms were not counted toward the diagnosis.
- (4) The vast majority of patients had never received treatment for hoarding.
- (5) Older adults with compulsive hoarding were usually socially impaired and living alone.
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