Regional homogeneity in patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder and depression: A resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging study

To explore the brain functional impairment of patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) with and without depressive symptoms and analyze the correlation between the degree of impairment and the severity of symptoms. Fourteen patients with OCD who met the ICD-10 diagnostic criteria for OCD were included. The group having OCD with depression (OCDd) consisted of 15 patients, and 17 healthy controls (HC) matched for age and education were also included. The Yale–Brown OCD Scale (Y-BOCS) and the 24-item Hamilton Assessment of Depression Scale (HAMD) were administered to the OCD and OCDd groups. Resting-state functional brain magnetic resonance imaging was performed in the three groups of participants. The OCDd group had lower scores on the HAMD, Y-BOCS, and obsessive–compulsive thinking subscales compared with the OCD group (P < 0.05). The scores on the OCDd subscale were negatively correlated with the HAMD scores (R = − 0.568, P = 0.027). The OCDd group had higher regional homogeneity (ReHo) values in the lingual gyrus than the OCD group. The OCDd group had higher ReHo values in the lingual gyrus than the HC group, and the OCDd group had higher ReHo values than the HC group. These differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). After correction for multiple comparisons, significant difference was observed between the OCDd and HC groups (P ＜ 0.05). In the OCD group, the ReHo value of the lingual gyrus was negatively correlated with the Y-BOCS total score and the compulsive behavior subscale score (R = − 0.609, −0.552; P = 0.016, 0.033). Abnormal ReHo values in the lingual gyrus and right medial superior frontal gyrus were found in the patients with OCDd. In the OCDd group, the ReHo values of the lingual gyrus were negatively correlated with the scores on the Y-BOCS total and obsessive–compulsive subscales, suggesting that abnormal local coherence of the lingual gyrus may be related to the severity of OCD.