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Clinical Characteristics of Children and Adolescents with a Primary Tic Disorder

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Abstract

The clinical characteristics and rates of co-occurring psychiatric conditions in youth seeking treatment for a chronic tic disorder (CTD) were examined. Children and adolescents (N = 126) with a primary CTD diagnosis were recruited for a randomized controlled treatment trial. An expert clinician established diagnostic status via semi-structured interview. Participants were male (78.6%), Caucasians (84.9%), mean age 11.7 years (SD = 2.3) with moderate-to-severe tics who met criteria for Tourette’s disorder (93.7%). Common co-occurring conditions included attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD; 26%), social phobia (21%), generalized anxiety disorder (20%), and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD; 19%). Motor and vocal tics with greater intensity, complexity, and interference were associated with increased impairment. Youth with a CTD seeking treatment for tics should be evaluated for non-OCD anxiety disorders in addition to ADHD and OCD. Despite the presence of co-occurring conditions, children with more forceful, complex, and/or directly interfering tics may seek treatment to reduce tic severity.

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Author notes

  1. Hayden Kepley

    Present address: Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina-Wilmington, Wilmington, NC, USA

  2. Christopher Flessner

    Present address: Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Brown Medical School, Providence, RI, USA

  3. Brian A. Buzzella

    Present address: Department of Psychology, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA

  4. Joseph F. McGuire

    Present address: Department of Psychiatry, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA

  5. John T. Walkup

    Present address: Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, 600 North Wolfe Street/CMSC 314, Baltimore, MD, 21287-3325, USA

    Matt W. Specht, Hayden Kepley & John T. Walkup

  2. Department of Psychology, University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee, Milwaukee, WI, USA

    Douglas W. Woods & Christopher Flessner

  3. Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, UCLA Neuropsychiartic Hospital, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    John Piacentini, Susanna Chang & Brian A. Buzzella

  4. Yale School of Nursing and Child Study Center, Yale University School of Nursing, New Haven, CT, USA

    Lawrence Scahill & Joseph F. McGuire

  5. Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

    Sabine Wilhelm & Thilo Deckersbach

  6. Department of Psychiarty, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, USA

    Alan L. Peterson

  7. Tourette Syndrome Association, Bayside, NY, USA

    Sue Levi-Pearl

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  1. Matt W. Specht
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  2. Douglas W. Woods
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  3. John Piacentini
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  7. Susanna Chang
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  8. Hayden Kepley
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  14. John T. Walkup
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Matt W. Specht.

Additional information

This work was supported by grant R01MH070802 (clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: NCT00218777) from the National Institute of Mental Health to Dr. Piacentini, with subcontracts to Drs. Woods, Scahill, Wilhelm, Peterson, and Walkup. Dr. Scahill received support from the Yale University Clinical and Translational Sciences Award grant UL1 RR024139 from the National Center for Research Resources, NIH. We would like to express our appreciation to the children and their families who made this study possible.

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Specht, M.W., Woods, D.W., Piacentini, J. et al. Clinical Characteristics of Children and Adolescents with a Primary Tic Disorder. J Dev Phys Disabil 23, 15–31 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10882-010-9223-z

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