Association between dietary behavior and tic symptoms of children with Tourette syndrome

Abstract

Objective To explore the association of dietary behavior of children with Tourette syndrome(TS) and tic symptoms. Methods 207 TS children and their 264 corresponding controls, who visited our hospital during the period of November 2008 to October 2010, were investigated with children’s dietary behavior questionnaire, under the guidance of professional staff, and the TS tic symptom severity was also evaluated according to The Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS). Kruskal-Wallis H rank-sum test was applied for univariate analysis and multinominal logistic regression for further multivariate analysis, with values of odds ratio (OR) and population attributable risk (PAR) obtained to demonstrate the relation strength between dietary behavior and tic symptom severity. Results Results of univariate analysis showed that western fast meal, barbecues, cream food, cold food, and spicy food were related to TS tic symptom severity (P<0.05). Results of multivariate analysis demonstrated that western fast meal, fruits and vegetables, cream food and spicy food were risk factors for mild TS compared with control group, with OR and 95%CI of 3.282(1.922, 5.064), 2.239(1.298, 3.861), 2.341(1.355, 4.046), 2.118(1.327, 3.380) and their corresponding PAR of 0.306, 0.464, 0.169, 0.250 respectively. As to moderate and severe TS, the risk factors included western fast meal, fruits and vegetables, and spicy food, with their respective OR and 95%CI of 2.581(1.322, 5.038), 2.364(1.166, 4.795), 1.822(1.014, 2.272) and PAR of 0.234, 0.487, 0.197. Conclusion Dietary behavior, especially western fast meal, fruits and vegetables, cream food and spicy food, are considered to be associated with TS tic symptom severity. Therefore it’s obligatory to rectify undesirable dietary behaviors for TS children. Key words: Tourette syndrome; Dietary behavior; Univariate analysis; Multivariate analysis