Influence of Gender on Tourette Syndrome Beyond Adolescence

Abstract

Although boys are disproportionately affected by tics in Tourette syndrome (TS), this gender bias is attenuated in adulthood and a recent study has suggested that women may experience greater functional interference from tics than men. The authors assessed the gender distribution of adults in a tertiary University-based TS clinic population and the relative influence of gender and other variables on adult tic severity (YGTSS score) and psychosocial functioning (GAF score). We also determined retrospectively the influence of gender on change in global tic severity and overall TS impairment (YGTSS) since adolescence. Females were over-represented in relation to previously published epidemiologic surveys of both TS children and adults. Female gender was associated with a greater likelihood of tic worsening as opposed to tic improvement in adulthood; a greater likelihood of expansion as opposed to contraction of motor tic distribution; and with increased current motor tic severity and tic-related impairment. However, gender explained only a small percentage of the variance of the YGTSS global severity score and none of the variance of the GAF scale score. Psychosocial functioning was influenced most strongly by tic severity but also by a variety of comorbid neuropsychiatric disorders.

Atypical Functional Connectivity in Tourette Syndrome Differs Between Children and Adults

“…Additionally, our child and adult samples differed with respect to sex; the children included more boys than girls, while the adults were more balanced. This difference reflects epidemiological data, as the sex imbalance (4:1 male:female) reported in childhood TS is attenuated in adulthood TS (71). Nevertheless, examination of the misclassified individuals demonstrated that poor generalizability across age groups was not driven by these factors.…”

The prevalence of diagnosed tourette syndrome in Canada: A national population‐based study

“…They also found that after adolescence, overall TS impairment was more likely to improve in males and worsen in females. Women had higher Yale Global Tic Severity Scale motor tic scores in adulthood than men and showed greater overall TS‐related impairment . Lewin and colleagues performed a phenomenological characterization of tic disorders in 185 women using a nationwide U.S. Internet sample.…”

Inhibition, Disinhibition, and the Control of Action in Tourette Syndrome

“…Tics occur in bouts, typically many times in a single day, and are the most common form of movement disorder in children. In child populations with TS the ratio of males to females is estimated at 5.2 to 1, but in adult samples this gender split is closer to parity [2]. Motor tics can be simple or complex in appearance, ranging from repetitive movements to coordinated action sequences.…”