Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Benchmarking empirical severity for the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale-Second Edition

Pinciotti, Caitlin M. ; Avery, Juliana ; Zhang, Chencheng ; Munoz, Josselyn S. ; Berrones, Dayan ; Zavala Cruz, Vanessa ; Wiese, Andrew ; Anderberg, Jacey ; Frederick, Renee and Mino, Tomas , et al. (2025) In Journal of Affective Disorders 390. p.1-8
Abstract
The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) is considered the primary instrument for assessing the presence and severity of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Conceptual and empirical critiques inspired the development of an updated version of the instrument, the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale-Second Edition (Y-BOCS-II), with a higher ceiling of OCD severity to better differentiate between severe and the most debilitating OCD presentations, among other revisions. The Y-BOCS-II has demonstrated sound psychometric properties across diverse samples. Empirically derived severity benchmarks have been proposed for the original Y-BOCS, yielding somewhat different ranges than what has been commonly used in clinical and research... (More)
The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) is considered the primary instrument for assessing the presence and severity of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Conceptual and empirical critiques inspired the development of an updated version of the instrument, the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale-Second Edition (Y-BOCS-II), with a higher ceiling of OCD severity to better differentiate between severe and the most debilitating OCD presentations, among other revisions. The Y-BOCS-II has demonstrated sound psychometric properties across diverse samples. Empirically derived severity benchmarks have been proposed for the original Y-BOCS, yielding somewhat different ranges than what has been commonly used in clinical and research settings, yet severity benchmarks for the Y-BOCS-II have yet to be established. Using a diverse, pooled sample of 2982 children and adults with OCD or obsessive-compulsive and related concerns across 13 countries, receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analyses yielded severity benchmarks that largely mirrored the original Y-BOCS at the lower range of scores and extended the previously established benchmarks at the higher range of scores, owing to the increased ceiling of the instrument. The optimal benchmark ranges were determined as: non−/sub-clinical (0–14), mild (15–21), moderate (22–34), severe (35–50). Similar benchmarks were present across sex and age groups, and their accuracy was adequate in both a holdout sample and an independent sample of OCD patients from China (n = 78). Limitations and implications for the use of the Y-BOCS-II in clinical and research settings are discussed. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and , et al. (More)
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; and (Less)
author collaboration
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Journal of Affective Disorders
volume
390
article number
119719
pages
1 - 8
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • pmid:40541829
  • scopus:105010693423
ISSN
0165-0327
DOI
10.1016/j.jad.2025.119719
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
98214283-22de-426b-9ea0-bf90ed6b94d1
date added to LUP
2025-09-04 21:53:22
date last changed
2025-10-14 09:22:53
@article{98214283-22de-426b-9ea0-bf90ed6b94d1,
  abstract     = {{The Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) is considered the primary instrument for assessing the presence and severity of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Conceptual and empirical critiques inspired the development of an updated version of the instrument, the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale-Second Edition (Y-BOCS-II), with a higher ceiling of OCD severity to better differentiate between severe and the most debilitating OCD presentations, among other revisions. The Y-BOCS-II has demonstrated sound psychometric properties across diverse samples. Empirically derived severity benchmarks have been proposed for the original Y-BOCS, yielding somewhat different ranges than what has been commonly used in clinical and research settings, yet severity benchmarks for the Y-BOCS-II have yet to be established. Using a diverse, pooled sample of 2982 children and adults with OCD or obsessive-compulsive and related concerns across 13 countries, receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analyses yielded severity benchmarks that largely mirrored the original Y-BOCS at the lower range of scores and extended the previously established benchmarks at the higher range of scores, owing to the increased ceiling of the instrument. The optimal benchmark ranges were determined as: non−/sub-clinical (0–14), mild (15–21), moderate (22–34), severe (35–50). Similar benchmarks were present across sex and age groups, and their accuracy was adequate in both a holdout sample and an independent sample of OCD patients from China (n = 78). Limitations and implications for the use of the Y-BOCS-II in clinical and research settings are discussed.}},
  author       = {{Pinciotti, Caitlin M. and Avery, Juliana and Zhang, Chencheng and Munoz, Josselyn S. and Berrones, Dayan and Zavala Cruz, Vanessa and Wiese, Andrew and Anderberg, Jacey and Frederick, Renee and Mino, Tomas and Lanzagorta, Nuria and Camilo Restrepo, Juan and Ochoa-Panaifo, Marcos and Goodman, Wayne and Crowley, James J. and Storch, Eric and Cervin, Matti}},
  issn         = {{0165-0327}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{12}},
  pages        = {{1--8}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Journal of Affective Disorders}},
  title        = {{Benchmarking empirical severity for the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale-Second Edition}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2025.119719}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.jad.2025.119719}},
  volume       = {{390}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}