Investigating the Overlap of Padua Inventory and Worry among Patients with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Normal People

Objective: The present study aimed to explore the relationship between worry and obsessive compulsive symptoms. We examined the correlations between the Padua Inventory (PI) and the Penn State Worry Questionnaire (PSWQ) to further explore the distinctiveness of the PI.
Method: Seventy-five subjects (n=40 male, n= 35 female) were selected from Hafez Hospital (Iran) for this study: the subjects included twenty-five patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), 25 with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and 25 normal participants. The PI and PSWQ were used in order to measure the obsessive beliefs and worry.
Results: Results indicated a significant correlation between the PI scores and worry. The Results of the Kruskal-Wallis test showed that the PI scores were able to differentiate OCD and GAD patients from normal people, however, it failed to differentiate between OCD and GAD patients. In addition, when the worry scores were controlled, the PI scores were able to differentiate between OCD and GAD patients .
Conclusion: The PI appears to be a useful measure for differentiating OCD patients and nonclinical OCD cases from normal people. However, its usefulness in differentiating between OCD patients and patients with anxiety disorder (GAD) has not been supported by our findings.