Tourette’s Syndrome: Complex Tics

Abstract

Tourette syndrome (TS) is a childhood-onset disorder characterized by chronic motor and vocal tics which persist for more than 1 year. It is estimated that TS affects about 1% of children. Risk factors include male gender, family history of tics, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Transient tic disorders in childhood are much more common than TS. Twenty percent of children, boys more commonly than girls, have motor tics which disappear as they get older. According to DSM-IV, the standard diagnostic criteria for TS consist of (1) presence of multiple motor tics and one or more vocal tics, (2) tics occurring many times daily for more than 3 consecutive months, (3) onset younger than 18 years of age, and (4) a tic disorder not due to substance abuse or another underlying diagnosis.