The prevalence of obsessive-compulsive disorder in Japan: a study of students using the Maudsley Obsessional-Compulsive Inventory and DSM-III-R.

The prevalence of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) was measured in 424 Japanese students using a Japanese version of the Maudsley Obsession-Compulsive Inventory (MOCI-J). Six students (1.7%) of 350 interviewed students were diagnosed as OCD according to DSM-III-R. When the cut-off point of the MOCI-J was 12, the sensitivity was 100% and the specificity was 96%. Our results suggest that individuals with OCD are not rare among the young Japanese population and that the MOCI-J is a useful tool for screening OCD.