Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Response Inhibition: Meta-Analysis of the Stop-Signal Task

This systematic review and meta-analysis updates evidence pertaining to response inhibition in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) as measured by the stop-signal task (SST). We conducted a meta-analysis of the literature to compare response inhibition in patients with OCD and healthy controls, metaregressions to determine relative influences of age and sex on response inhibition performance, and a risk of bias assessment for included studies using the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS). Stop-signal reaction time (SSRT), which estimates the latency of the stopping process deficit, was significantly longer in OCD samples than in controls, reflecting inferior inhibitory control (Raw mean difference = 23.43 ms; p = <.001; 95% CI [17.42, 29.45]). We did not observe differences in mean reaction time (MRT) in OCD compared with controls (Raw mean difference = 2.51 ms; p = .755; 95% CI [-13.27, 18.30]). Reaction time variability (RTSD) was reported in one study only. Age impacted effect size of SSRT, indicating inferior performance in older OCD patients than younger ones. We did not observe a significant effect of sex on SSRT or MRT scores. General Scientific Summary Difficulty inhibiting responses is an hypothesized deficit in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The results of this systematic review and meta-analysis of studies using the Stop Signal task support the notion of impaired response inhibition in OCD and indicate that older individuals with OCD show greater impairment than younger ones.

Automated summary

This study conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis on response inhibition in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) using the stop-signal task. The results supported the hypothesis of impaired response inhibition in OCD, with older individuals showing greater deficits in inhibitory control compared to younger individuals.