Prevalence of tic disorders: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

This study evaluated the prevalence of tic disorders. MEDLINE and EMBASE databases were searched, using terms specific to Tourette syndrome and tic disorders, for studies of incidence, prevalence, and epidemiology. Thirty-five studies reporting data from 1985-2011 on the incidence or prevalence of tic disorders in a defined population were included. One reported incidence, and 34 reported prevalence. Meta-analysis of 13 studies of children yielded a prevalence of Tourette syndrome at 0.77% (95% confidence interval, 0.39-1.51%). Prevalence is higher in boys: 1.06% of boys were affected (95% confidence interval, 0.54-2.09%) vs 0.25% of girls (95% confidence interval, 0.05-1.20%). Transient tic disorder comprised the most common tic disorder in children, affecting 2.99% (95% confidence interval, 1.60-5.61%). Meta-analysis of two studies assessing adults for Tourette syndrome revealed a prevalence of 0.05% (95% confidence interval, 0.03-0.08%). The prevalence of tic disorders was higher in all studies performed in special education populations. Tic disorders are more common in children than adults, in boys than girls, and in special education populations. Parents, educators, healthcare professionals, and administrators should be aware of the frequency with which tic disorders occur, and ensure proper access to appropriate care.

[1]  S. Dalsgaard,et al.  Prevalence and clinical correlates of tic disorders in a community sample of school-age children , 2011, European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

[2]  Sube Banerjee,et al.  The prevalence of Tourette syndrome in 13-14-year-olds in mainstream schools. , 2001, Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines.

[3]  M. Robertson,et al.  Gilles de la Tourette’s syndrome in special education schools: a United Kingdom study , 1997, Journal of Neurology.

[4]  A. Kaminska,et al.  Prevalence of tic disorders among schoolchildren in Warsaw, Poland , 2008, European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry.

[5]  D. Comings,et al.  An epidemiologic study of Tourette's syndrome in a single school district. , 1990, The Journal of clinical psychiatry.

[6]  D. Pauls,et al.  Tourette's Syndrome in New Zealand , 1994, British Journal of Psychiatry.

[7]  N. Khalifa,et al.  Prevalence of tic disorders and Tourette syndrome in a Swedish school population , 2003, Developmental medicine and child neurology.

[8]  L. Goldbeck,et al.  Prevalence of mental disorders among adolescents in German youth welfare institutions , 2008, Child and adolescent psychiatry and mental health.

[9]  K. Kidd,et al.  Severity of Tourette's syndrome in one large kindred. Implication for determination of disease prevalence rate. , 1987, Archives of neurology.

[10]  G. Baird,et al.  Psychiatric disorders in children with autism spectrum disorders: prevalence, comorbidity, and associated factors in a population-derived sample. , 2008, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

[11]  Huei-Shyong Wang,et al.  Tourette's syndrome in Taiwan: an epidemiological study of tic disorders in an elementary school at Taipei County , 2003, Brain and Development.

[12]  Wolfgang Viechtbauer,et al.  Conducting Meta-Analyses in R with the metafor Package , 2010 .

[13]  L. Scahill,et al.  Prevalence of diagnosed tourette syndrome in persons aged 6-17 years - United States, 2007. , 2009 .

[14]  E. Beghi,et al.  Prevalence of tic disorders among primary school students in the city of Pavia, Italy. , 2004, Archives of disease in childhood.

[15]  J. Benito-León,et al.  Prevalence of tics in schoolchildren in central Spain: a population-based study. , 2011, Pediatric neurology.

[16]  M. Garvey,et al.  Tics and problem behaviors in schoolchildren: prevalence, characterization, and associations. , 2002, Pediatrics.

[17]  L. Gaha,et al.  Prévalence des troubles psychopathologiques dans une population tunisienne d’enfants en difficultés scolaires , 2010 .

[18]  M. Robertson,et al.  The prevalence of Tourette syndrome in a mainstream school population , 1998, Developmental medicine and child neurology.

[19]  S. Dalsgaard,et al.  Time trends in reported diagnoses of childhood neuropsychiatric disorders: a Danish cohort study. , 2007, Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine.

[20]  B. Peterson,et al.  Prospective, longitudinal study of tic, obsessive-compulsive, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorders in an epidemiological sample. , 2001, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

[21]  K. Gadow,et al.  Tics and psychiatric comorbidity in children and adolescents. , 2002, Developmental medicine and child neurology.

[22]  D. Raut,et al.  Neurological disorders in children and adolescents , 2009, Indian journal of pediatrics.

[23]  D. Cohen,et al.  An epidemiological study of obsessive-compulsive disorder and related disorders in Israeli adolescents. , 1992, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

[24]  L. Kurland,et al.  Tourette syndrome in Rochester, Minnesota, 1968-1979. , 1982, Advances in neurology.

[25]  L W Chambers,et al.  Critical appraisal of the health research literature: prevalence or incidence of a health problem. , 1998, Chronic diseases in Canada.

[26]  B. Shao,et al.  Epidemiological Survey of Tourette Syndrome in Children and Adolescents in Wenzhou of P.R. China , 2005, European Journal of Epidemiology.

[27]  C. Gillberg,et al.  Prevalences and configurations of mental disorders among institutionalized adolescents , 2007, Developmental neurorehabilitation.

[28]  R. Bruun,et al.  The course and prognosis of Tourette syndrome. , 1997, Neurologic clinics.

[29]  A. Erkanli,et al.  The Great Smoky Mountains Study of Youth. Goals, design, methods, and the prevalence of DSM-III-R disorders. , 1996, Archives of general psychiatry.

[30]  Michael H. Boyle,et al.  Guidelines for evaluating prevalence studies , 1998 .

[31]  N. Van Blercom,et al.  Prevalence of tic disorder in two schools in the Basque country: Results and methodological caveats , 2006, Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society.

[32]  L. Schieve,et al.  Prevalence of Parent-Reported Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder Among Children in the US, 2007 , 2009, Pediatrics.

[33]  W. Poewe,et al.  Prevalence of movement disorders in men and women aged 50–89 years (Bruneck Study cohort): a population-based study , 2005, The Lancet Neurology.

[34]  Y. Bar-dayan,et al.  Screening for Common Neurologic Diseases Among Israeli Adolescents , 2010, Journal of child neurology.

[35]  Y. Machiyama,et al.  An Epidemiological Study of Tics , 1990, The Japanese journal of psychiatry and neurology.

[36]  Bradley S. Peterson,et al.  Course of Tic Severity in Tourette Syndrome: The First Two Decades , 1998, Pediatrics.

[37]  J. Lau,et al.  Psychiatric Morbidity in a Chinese Primary School in Hong Kong , 1992, The Australian and New Zealand journal of psychiatry.

[38]  M. Mcdermott,et al.  Prevalence of tics in schoolchildren and association with placement in special education , 2001, Neurology.

[39]  J. Stockman,et al.  Prevalence of Parent-Reported Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder Among Children in the US, 2007 , 2011 .

[40]  Lionel Traverse,et al.  ‘Prevalence of Tourette syndrome in a mainstream school population’ , 1998, Developmental medicine and child neurology.

[41]  C. Gillberg,et al.  Tourette's disorder: epidemiology and comorbidity in primary school children. , 2000, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

[42]  D. Cohen,et al.  An epidemiologic study of Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome in Israel. , 1993, Archives of general psychiatry.

[43]  Dan J Stein,et al.  Tic disorders: some key issues for DSM‐V , 2010, Depression and anxiety.

[44]  M. Robertson,et al.  Prevalence of tics and Tourette syndrome in an inpatient adult psychiatry setting. , 2001, Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPN.

[45]  J. Scharf,et al.  Prevalence of Tourette Syndrome and Chronic Tics in the Population-Based Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children Cohort , 2012, Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.

[46]  C. Tanner,et al.  Epidemiology of Tourette syndrome. , 1997, Neurologic clinics.

[47]  H. Rickards.  ‘An international perspective on Tourette syndrome’ , 2001, Developmental medicine and child neurology.

[48]  V. Roessner,et al.  Tic disorders: Administrative prevalence and co-occurrence with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder in a German community sample , 2011, European Psychiatry.

[49]  T. Banaschewski,et al.  Premonitory sensory phenomena and suppressibility of tics in Tourette syndrome: developmental aspects in children and adolescents. , 2003, Developmental medicine and child neurology.