Global Prevalence of Obsessive-Compulsive and Related Disorders: A Systematic Review and Modeling Study.

Abstract

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is one of the common mental disorders globally. However, there are limited studies on the prevalence of OCD and four other disorders categorized under obsessive-compulsive and related disorders, namely, hoarding disorder, excoriation disorder, body dysmorphic disorder, and trichotillomania. The authors sought to fill the epidemiological gap in the literature. PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, PsycINFO, and Google Scholar were systematically searched from inception to June 8, 2025. Studies representative of national or subnational general populations, with diagnoses based on <i>DSM</i> or <i>ICD-10</i> criteria, were included. A Bayesian hierarchical linear mixed model was used to estimate the lifetime prevalence of OCD at the global, regional, and national levels, with estimates reported with 95% credible intervals. The authors examined the association between OCD prevalence and the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), and estimated age-specific point prevalence of OCD. A total of 112 studies reporting prevalence rates for obsessive-compulsive and related disorders were included. The global lifetime Bayesian prevalence of OCD across all ages was estimated at 2.57% according to <i>ICD-10</i> criteria, 3.10% according to <i>DSM-III</i> criteria, 2.28% according to <i>DSM-IV</i> criteria, and 3.21% according to <i>DSM-5</i> criteria. Lifetime prevalence of OCD was negatively correlated with SDI, indicating lower prevalence estimates in countries with higher SDI. The age-specific prevalence of OCD increased sharply in the teen years and peaked in the late 20s to early 30s. Point prevalence ranged across studies from 0.98% to 5.81% for hoarding disorder, from 2.33% to 7.68% for excoriation disorder, from 0.44% to 15.21% for body dysmorphic disorder, and from 0.0% to 2.12% for trichotillomania. This study estimated the global prevalence of OCD according to diagnostic criteria, underscoring the role of diagnostic definitions in shaping epidemiological understanding.