Empirically defining treatment response and remission in obsessive-compulsive disorder using the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Revised

In clinical trials of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), clinical outcomes are generally measured using lengthy clinician-administered interviews. However, in routine clinical practice, many clinicians lack the time to administer such instruments. This study evaluated cut-offs for treatment response and remission in OCD using the self-rated Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Revised (OCI-R). Data from 349 patients in three clinical trials of cognitive behavior therapy for OCD were pooled for analysis. The OCI-R was compared to gold-standard criteria for response and remission based on the clinician-administered Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale and the Clinical Global Impression Scale. The results showed that a ≥40% reduction on the OCI-R was the optimal cut-off for treatment response, with a sensitivity of 0.72 and a specificity of 0.79. For remission status, the optimal cut-off was ≤8 points on the OCI-R, with a sensitivity of 0.57 and specificity of 0.83. These cut-offs provide a simple and time-efficient way to determine treatment response and remission in OCD when the administration of clinician-administered instruments is unfeasible.