Source
The Hospital for Sick Children and Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Canada. daniel.gorman@sickkids.ca
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Children with Tourette syndrome generally experience improvement of tics by age 18 years, but psychosocial and comorbidity outcomes at this age are unclear.
AIMS:
To compare psychosocial outcomes and lifetime comorbidity rates in older adolescents with Tourette syndrome and controls. We hypothesised a priori that individuals with Tourette syndrome would have lower Children's Global Assessment Scale (CGAS) scores.
METHOD:
A total of 65 individuals with Tourette syndrome, identified in childhood, and 65 matched community controls without tic or obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms were assessed around 18 years of age regarding psychosocial functioning and lifetime psychiatric disorders.
RESULTS:
Compared with controls, individuals with Tourette syndrome had substantially lower CGAS scores (P = 10(-8)) and higher rates of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), major depression, learning disorder and conduct disorder (P< or =0.01). In the participants with Tourette syndrome, poorer psychosocial outcomes were associated with greater ADHD, OCD and tic severity.
CONCLUSIONS:
Clinically ascertained children with Tourette syndrome typically have impaired psychosocial functioning and high comorbidity rates in late adolescence.