TY - JOUR

T1 - Tic disorders in children and adolescents

T2 - does the clinical presentation differ in males and females? A report by the EMTICS group

AU - Garcia-Delgar, Blanca

AU - Servera, Mateu

AU - Coffey, Barbara J

AU - Lázaro, Luisa

AU - Openneer, Thaïra J C

AU - Benaroya-Milshtein, Noa

AU - Steinberg, Tami

AU - Hoekstra, Pieter J

AU - Dietrich, Andrea

AU - Morer, Astrid

AU - Apter, Alan

AU - Baglioni, Valentina

AU - Ball, Juliane

AU - Bognar, Emese

AU - Burger, Bianka

AU - Buse, Judith

AU - Cardona, Francesco

AU - Vela, Marta Correa

AU - Debes, Nanette M.

AU - Ferro, Maria Cristina

AU - Fremer, Carolin

AU - Garcia-Delgar, Blanca

AU - Gulisano, Mariangela

AU - Hagen, Annelieke

AU - Hagstrøm, Julie

AU - Hedderly, Tammy J.

AU - Heyman, Isobel

AU - Huyser, Chaim

AU - Madruga-Garrido, Marcos

AU - Marotta, Anna

AU - Martino, Davide

AU - Mir, Pablo

AU - Müller, Norbert

AU - Müller-Vahl, Kirsten

AU - Münchau, Alexander

AU - Nagy, Peter

AU - Neri, Valeria

AU - Openneer, Thaïra J.C.

AU - Pellico, Alessandra

AU - Plessen, Kerstin J.

AU - Porcelli, Cesare

AU - Rizzo, Renata

AU - Roessner, Veit

AU - Ruhrman, Daphna

AU - Schnell, Jaana M.L.

AU - Silvestri, Paola Rosaria

AU - Skov, Liselotte

AU - Steinberg, Tamar

AU - Gloor, Friederike Tagwerker

AU - Tarnok, Zsanett

AU - on behalf of the EMTICS collaborative group

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2021, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

PY - 2022

Y1 - 2022

N2 - Tic disorders have a strong male predominance, with a male-to-female ratio of 4:1 in Tourette syndrome (TS) and 2:1 in persistent tic disorders. In other neurodevelopmental conditions, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the disparity in sex distribution has been partially related to differences in symptom presentation between males and females. In tic disorders, however, little research has been conducted on this topic, probably due to the limited access to large samples with a significant proportion of females. The aim of this study was to describe sex differences in the clinical presentation of tic disorders in children and adolescents in one of the largest pediatric samples with TS/persistent tic disorders (n = 709, 23.3% females) recruited as part of the European Multicenter Tics in Children Study (EMTICS). Validated measures assessed the severity of tics and comorbid psychiatric symptoms. Using mixed-effect models, we found that sex had a significant influence on the severity of tics, ADHD symptoms, ASD symptoms, and emotional problems. Males had more severe symptoms than females, except for emotional problems. We also observed a statistically significant interaction between sex and age on the severity of tics and compulsions, with females showing higher symptom severity with increasing age than males. These findings indicate that the clinical presentation of TS/persistent tic disorders varies with sex. Males seem to exhibit a more noticeable pattern of clinical symptoms at a younger age that may contribute to their earlier detection in comparison to females.

AB - Tic disorders have a strong male predominance, with a male-to-female ratio of 4:1 in Tourette syndrome (TS) and 2:1 in persistent tic disorders. In other neurodevelopmental conditions, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), the disparity in sex distribution has been partially related to differences in symptom presentation between males and females. In tic disorders, however, little research has been conducted on this topic, probably due to the limited access to large samples with a significant proportion of females. The aim of this study was to describe sex differences in the clinical presentation of tic disorders in children and adolescents in one of the largest pediatric samples with TS/persistent tic disorders (n = 709, 23.3% females) recruited as part of the European Multicenter Tics in Children Study (EMTICS). Validated measures assessed the severity of tics and comorbid psychiatric symptoms. Using mixed-effect models, we found that sex had a significant influence on the severity of tics, ADHD symptoms, ASD symptoms, and emotional problems. Males had more severe symptoms than females, except for emotional problems. We also observed a statistically significant interaction between sex and age on the severity of tics and compulsions, with females showing higher symptom severity with increasing age than males. These findings indicate that the clinical presentation of TS/persistent tic disorders varies with sex. Males seem to exhibit a more noticeable pattern of clinical symptoms at a younger age that may contribute to their earlier detection in comparison to females.

KW - Adolescents

KW - Children

KW - Sex differences

KW - Tourette syndrome

U2 - 10.1007/s00787-021-01751-4

DO - 10.1007/s00787-021-01751-4

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 33944988

AN - SCOPUS:85105525247

VL - 31

SP - 1539

EP - 1548

JO - European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Supplement

JF - European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Supplement

SN - 1433-5719

ER -