Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39580606›Full record

ArticleMolecular psychiatry2025

Association between bullying victimization and obsessive-compulsive disorder: a population-based, genetically informative study.

Josep Pol-Fuster, Lorena Fernández de la Cruz, Kayoko Isomura, Anna Sidorchuk, Ralf Kuja-Halkola, Paul Lichtenstein, Brian M D'Onofrio, Isabell Brikell, Henrik Larsson, Elles de Schipper and 2 more

Abstract readTwin Study
In one paragraph

Article in Molecular psychiatry, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Review
  2. Article
  3. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

Josep Pol-FusterDepartment of Clinical Neuroscience, Centre for Psychiatry Research, Karolinska Institutet & Stockholm Health Care Services, Region Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden. josep.pol.fuster@ki.se.ORCID 0000-0002-7066-3649
Lorena Fernández de la CruzDepartment of Clinical Neuroscience, Centre for Psychiatry Research, Karolinska Institutet & Stockholm Health Care Services, Region Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden.ORCID 0000-0002-1571-5485
Kayoko IsomuraDepartment of Clinical Neuroscience, Centre for Psychiatry Research, Karolinska Institutet & Stockholm Health Care Services, Region Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden.
Anna SidorchukDepartment of Clinical Neuroscience, Centre for Psychiatry Research, Karolinska Institutet & Stockholm Health Care Services, Region Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden.ORCID 0000-0002-8126-8177
Ralf Kuja-HalkolaDepartment of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.ORCID 0000-0002-3765-2067
Paul LichtensteinDepartment of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.ORCID 0000-0003-3037-5287
Brian M D'OnofrioDepartment of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Isabell BrikellDepartment of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Henrik LarssonDepartment of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.ORCID 0000-0002-6851-3297
Elles de SchipperDepartment of Clinical Neuroscience, Centre for Psychiatry Research, Karolinska Institutet & Stockholm Health Care Services, Region Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden.
Jan C BeuckeDepartment of Clinical Neuroscience, Centre for Psychiatry Research, Karolinska Institutet & Stockholm Health Care Services, Region Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden.
David Mataix-ColsDepartment of Clinical Neuroscience, Centre for Psychiatry Research, Karolinska Institutet & Stockholm Health Care Services, Region Stockholm, Stockholm, Sweden.ORCID 0000-0002-4545-0924

Funding

Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (German Research Foundation) BE5964/1-1Hjärnfonden (Swedish Brain Foundation) FO2020-0139International OCD Foundation (International Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder Foundation) FO2017-0154
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The extent to which bullying victimization is associated with an increased risk of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) has received little empirical attention. This longitudinal, population-based, genetically informative study examined whether self-reported bullying victimization at age 15 was associated with a clinical diagnosis of OCD in the Swedish National Patient Register and with self-reported obsessive-compulsive symptoms (OCS) at ages 18 and 24 in 16,030 twins from the Child and Adolescent Twin Study in Sweden. Using a discordant twin design, including monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) twins, each twin was compared with their co-twin, allowing a strict control of genetic and environmental confounding. At the population level, adjusting for birth year and sex, each standard deviation (SD) increase in bullying victimization was associated with a 32% increase in the odds of an OCD diagnosis (OR, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.21-1.44), of 0.13 SD in OCS at age 18 (β, 0.13; 95% CI, 0.11-0.16), and of 0.11 SD in OCS at age 24 (β, 0.11; 95% CI, 0.07-0.16). While associations tended to persist in the within DZ-twin comparison models, the estimates attenuated and were no longer statistically significant in the within MZ-twin comparisons. These results suggest that the association between bullying victimization and OCD/OCS is likely due to genetic confounding and therefore incompatible with a strong causal effect. Other mechanisms, such as evocative gene-environment correlations, are more plausible explanations for the observed associations.

Indexed as

BullyingCrime VictimsObsessive-Compulsive DisorderAdolescentAdultFemaleHumansLongitudinal StudiesMaleRegistriesSwedenTwins, DizygoticTwins, MonozygoticYoung Adult

Identifiers

PMID39580606
PMCPMC12092294

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.