Prevalence of tic disorders among primary school students in the city of Pavia, Italy

Arch Dis Child. 2004 January; 89(1): 45–47.

PMCID: PMC1755911

G Lanzi, C Zambrino, C Termine, M Palestra, G Ferrari, S Orcesi, P Manfredi, and E Beghi

Department of Child Neurology and Psychiatry, C. Mondino Foundation, University of Pavia, Via Palestro 3, 27100 Pavia, Italy. Email: glanzi/at/unipv.it

Abstract

Background: The prevalence of tic disorders in children varies from 1% to 29% depending on the characteristics of the study population, the diagnostic criteria, and the study design and methods.

Aims: To calculate the prevalence of tic disorders among primary school children in Italy.

Methods: The study population comprised 2347 primary school children from the city of Pavia (pop. 80 073), Northern Italy. Using trained school teachers as the source of cases, all children with motor or vocal tics occurring intermittently and unpredictably out of a background of normal motor activity were accepted. The type, frequency, and circumstances of tic disorders were noted. School performance was correlated to the presence of tics.

Results: A total of 68 children (56 boys, 12 girls) aged 6–11 years were identified with tic disorders. The period prevalence was 2.9% (95% CI 2.3 to 3.7). The prevalence was 4.4% in boys and 1.1% in girls, with no detectable trends at age 6–11. Motor tics were present in 46 cases, vocal tics in 6, and motor and vocal tics in 16. Situation related tics were noted in 37 cases. A significant correlation was found between the presence of tic disorders and impaired school performance.

Discussions: Tic disorders are a fairly uncommon but disabling clinical disorder among primary school children from an urban community. The fairly low prevalence of this clinical condition, as compared to other reports, can be explained by the choice of stringent diagnostic criteria and the exclusion of patients with other movement disorders.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (109K).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

LAPOUSE, R; MONK, MA. BEHAVIOR DEVIATIONS IN A REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE OF CHILDREN: VARIATION BY SEX, AGE, RACE, SOCIAL CLASS AND FAMILY SIZE. Am J Orthopsychiatry. 1964 Apr;34:436–446. [PubMed]
Achenbach, TM. The Child Behavior Profile: I. Boys aged 6--11. J Consult Clin Psychol. 1978 Jun;46(3):478–488. [PubMed]
Achenbach, TM; Edelbrock, CS. The Child Behavior Profile: II. Boys aged 12-16 and girls aged 6-11 and 12-16. J Consult Clin Psychol. 1979 Apr;47(2):223–233. [PubMed]
Caine, ED; McBride, MC; Chiverton, P; Bamford, KA; Rediess, S; Shiao, J. Tourette's syndrome in Monroe County school children. Neurology. 1988 Mar;38(3):472–475. [PubMed]
Comings, DE; Himes, JA; Comings, BG. An epidemiologic study of Tourette's syndrome in a single school district. J Clin Psychiatry. 1990 Nov;51(11):463–469. [PubMed]
Kurlan, R; Whitmore, D; Irvine, C; McDermott, MP; Como, PG. Tourette's syndrome in a special education population: a pilot study involving a single school district. Neurology. 1994 Apr;44(4):699–702. [PubMed]
Mason, A; Banerjee, S; Eapen, V; Zeitlin, H; Robertson, MM. The prevalence of Tourette syndrome in a mainstream school population. Dev Med Child Neurol. 1998 May;40(5):292–296. [PubMed]
Kadesjö, B; Gillberg, C. Tourette's disorder: epidemiology and comorbidity in primary school children. J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2000 May;39(5):548–555. [PubMed]
Comings, DE; Comings, BG. A controlled study of Tourette syndrome. I. Attention-deficit disorder, learning disorders, and school problems. Am J Hum Genet. 1987 Nov;41(5):701–741. [PubMed]
Singer, HS; Schuerholz, LJ; Denckla, MB. Learning difficulties in children with Tourette syndrome. J Child Neurol. 1995 Jan;10 Suppl 1:S58–S61. [PubMed]
Ryan, SG. Genetic susceptibility to neurodevelopmental disorders. J Child Neurol. 1999 Mar;14(3):187–195. [PubMed]