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Clinical correlates of comorbid chronic tics and Tourette syndrome in a National Inpatient Children's Unit

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2020

S. Zinna  and
M. Kyriakopoulos
S. Zinna*
Affiliation:
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, National and Specialist Acorn Lodge Children's Inpatient Unit, London, United Kingdom
M. Kyriakopoulos
Affiliation:
South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust, National and Specialist Acorn Lodge Children's Inpatient Unit, London, United Kingdom Tourette Syndrome Clinic, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, United Kingdom Institute of Psychiatry Psychology and Neuroscience, Kings College London, Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, London, United Kingdom
*
* Corresponding author.

Abstract

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Introduction

Chronic tics and Tourette syndrome (TS) can be comorbid with several neuropsychiatric conditions and may add to the complexity of children's clinical presentation and need for inpatient input.

Objectives

To review the clinical notes of all children admitted to a National Children's Inpatient Unit (aged up to 12 years) over a 5-year period and analyse their demographic and clinical characteristics including the presence of chronic tics/TS.

Aims

To assess the clinical correlates of comorbid chronic tics/TS in an inpatient preadolescent population.

Methods

A retrospective naturalistic study of all patients admitted to our unit from 2009 to 2014 was conducted. Children with and without chronic tics/TS were compared in terms of age, gender, family history of mental illness, history of neurodevelopmental problems in siblings, medication on admission and at discharge, length of admission and functional outcomes using Chi2 and t-tests for categorical and continuous data respectively.

Results

A total of 133 children (mean age = 11.2 years) were included. Twenty-five (18.8%) were diagnosed with chronic tics/TS. Autism spectrum disorder was the most commonly comorbid diagnosis (84%), with the second most common being an anxiety disorder/OCD (52%). Statistically significant higher percentages of learning disability, neurodevelopmental problems in siblings, medication at discharge and longer inpatient admissions were identified in children with tics compared with the rest of the sample. No other differences were found.

Conclusions

The prevalence of chronic tics/TS in children needing inpatient treatment is significant. In our sample, chronic tics/TS seem to represent a marker of increased neurodevelopmental deviance and overall symptom severity.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

Type
EW102
Information
European Psychiatry , Volume 33 , Issue S1: Abstracts of the 24th European Congress of Psychiatry , March 2016 , pp. S137
Copyright
Copyright © European Psychiatric Association 2016
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