Tourette disorder in children and adolescents: sociodemographic, clinical features and comorbidity

Toros F, Tot S, Avci A.

Mersin U Tip Fak, Psikiyatri AD.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the sociodemographic and clinical features of children and adolescents with Tourette Disorder (TD) according to DSM-IV who are applied to our outpatient clinic and to determine clinical significance of relationship between the sociodemographic features and the severity of vocal, motor tics, and also to determine frequency of comorbid conditions and diagnosis according to DSM-IV. METHOD: Twenty eight children and adolescents (23 boys, 5 girls) were included in this study. Sociodemographic features of cases were recorded and Beck Children Depression Inventory (CDI), Maudsley Obsessive Compulsive Questionnaire (MOCQ), Goetz Tics Evaluation Scale were administered to all children. Clinical features of TD and the comorbid diagnosis were assessed in detail through psychiatric interview according to DSM-IV. RESULTS: The mean age of the cases at the time of referral was 124 +/- 32 months. Twenty one of the cases (75%) had obsessive compulsive disorder, 4 of them (14.2%) had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), 4 of them (14.2%) had major depression as a comorbid disorder. The most common motor tic was eye blinking and vocal tic was throat cleaning. Coprolali was present in 32.1% of the cases was found to appear in older children. Besides, no significant causal relationship between prenatal, natal, and postnatal conditions of the cases and TD. CONCLUSIONS: The results of the study suggest that there are several common pathologies in the etiology of TD, OCD, ADHD because of the high comorbidity present between these disorders.

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