The role of autonomic activity, resting-state electrodermal activity (EDA), in the symptom severity of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) in healthy participants

Abstract

Current approaches of diagnosing obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) often rely on subjective measures that may overlook subtle symptom profiles, highlighting the need for objective markers to support earlier detection. Resting-state electrodermal activity (EDA) has shown promise as a physiological biomarker in psychological disorders, yet remains underexplored in OCD. The present study investigated the relationship between OCD symptom severity and resting-state EDA in a non-clinical sample. Healthy participants (n=35) completed the Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory-Revised (OCI-R) questionnaire, and resting-state EDA was recorded over a 2-minute period. Given the overlap between OCD and anxiety disorders, we hypothesised significant positive correlations between EDA features and OCI-R. EDA features analysed include mean skin conductance level, the number of non-specific skin conductance responses (NSSCRs), and their mean amplitude. Kendall’s tau-b correlations were computed, controlling for age and sex. Results showed a significant positive correlation between the mean amplitude of NSSCRs and OCI-R scores before Benjamini-Hochberg correction, though this did not remain significant after correction. Overall, the findings suggest that mean amplitude of NSSCRs may hold potential as a physiological correlate of OCD symptom severity, and highlight the complexity of autonomic activity in OCD. Further research with larger samples and refined methodologies is needed to better elucidate this relationship.