Familial Collagen Tissue Disease and Serum Levels of Antinuclear Antibodies in Pandas Ocd Patients

Objective:

The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency of familial history of collagen tissue disease and antinuclear antibody (ANA) positivity in cases with Pediatric Autoimmune Neuropsychiatric Disorders Associated with Streptococcal Infections (PANDAS) related to childhood Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

Method:

To determine psychiatric diagnoses, Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children--Present and Lifetime Turkish Version (KSADS-PL) was administered to the patients followed up with the diagnosis OCD. Serum levels of Anti Streptolysin O (ASO), C Reactive Protein (CRP) and Anti nuclear Antibody (ANA) were screened.

Results:

There were 91 OCD patients. Among these, 52 patients (57,1%) were diagnosed with PANDAS, 19 (20.9%) were diagnosed with non- PANDAS and 20 (22%) were diagnosed with PANDAS-variant. History of familial CTD was found in 34 (37.4%) of the cases. Among these,18 (52,9%) were first degree relatives while 16 (47,1%) were second degree relatives. The most commonly reported CTD was Rheumatoid Arthritis as present in 7 patients (20,5%). When each subgroup was compared, ANA positivity was most common in the PANDAS group, present in 15 patients (28,8%) indicating a statistical significance at p=.90.

Discussion:

This study is important for being one of the limited number of studies that searched for an association between familial CTD and PANDAS. There is a need for genetic studies to explore the association between PANDAS OCD and familial collagen tissue disease.