Using caffeine on the patients as therapeutic option against treatment-resistant obsessive-compulsive disorder

Abstract

Introduction: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is one of the most common and debilitating diseases. Approximately 40-30% of these patients are resistant to treatment, which auxiliary drugs are used to treat these patients. One of these drugs is caffeine, which is capable of affecting adenosine receptors and interfering with its release and serotonin reuptake. Considering the limitations of previous studies in this area, including lack of control group, this double-blind study compared the effectiveness of caffeine in the management of patients with treatment-resistant OCD in comparison with placebo group. Materials and Methods: 62 patients who referred to the psychiatric clinic of Imam Hossein Hospital in Tehran from 2017 to 2018 were enrolled in the study. According to the psychiatrist's interview, patients with OCD were selected randomly in two groups including caffeine and placebo, after having met the criteria for inclusion and obtaining informed consent. Patients were followed for 8 weeks and compared in terms of the severity of OCD before and after intervention using YBOCS questionnaire. Results: The two groups of treatment and control were similar in terms of study variables (gender, age, education, age, comorbidity). The mean Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) in the treatment and control groups before intervention were determined to be 27.16 and 25.4, respectively, which changed to 24 and 27.23 after medication intervention, which exhibited a decrease of about 3 points (12%) in the treatment group, and was statistically significant based on linear regression analysis ( P = 0.009). Considering other variables, the effect of caffeine was still statistically significant in the two groups. Conclusion: Based on the findings of our study, caffeine can reduce the severity of the symptoms of OCD and serve as an auxiliary treatment for OCD.

Chronic caffeine decreases anxiety-like behavior in the marble burying task in adolescent rats

“…The authors suggest that their results support the notion that the MBT is less a measure of anxiety and more indicative of compulsive-like behaviors as had been argued previously by Thomas et al ., (2019) and Greene-Schloesser et al ., (2011). Caffeine has been reported to have some efficacy in the treatment of OCD in humans (Shams et al ., 2019), supporting the argument that the effect of caffeine on marble burying might reflect a decrease in compulsive-like behavior.…”

Trait specific modulatory effects of caffeine exposure on compulsive-like behaviors in a spontaneous mouse model of obsessive-compulsive disorder

“…The marble-burying test was used to evaluate compulsive-like digging behavior ( Takeuchi et al , 2002 ; Thomas et al , 2009 ; Greene-Schloesser et al , 2011 ; Angoa-Pérez et al , 2013 ). All experimental mice were individually introduced to a polypropylene cage (37 × 21 × 14 cm) containing 20 glass marbles (10 mm in diameter) evenly spaced on firmly pressed 5 cm deep wood shavings bedding with no access to food or water for 10 min.…”