Prognosis of Pediatric Tourette Syndrome?
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Tourette syndrome (TS) is a complex childhood-onset neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by motor and phonic (vocal) tics. It is often associated with behavior disorders, particularly obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). These behavior disorders often accompany the tics and may dominate the clinical picture in some patients. TS can greatly impact one's quality of life due to the disorder itself and more so in presence of other behavioral disorders. TS is a genetic condition that runs in families (see Pathophysiology and Etiology). However, the precise genetic abnormality responsible for the phenotype has not yet been elucidated.
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@tishta In most cases of TS, symptoms reach their fullest expression some time during adolescence, roughly a decade after onset. At some point, symptoms become more unpredictable, sometimes changing markedly from day to day or week to week. Despite this, the later teenage years are often a time when the severity of tics levels off and remission begins. Several retrospective studies indicate that many patients, even those with severe tics during childhood, improve considerably during the late teenage to early adult years. Approximately one third of patients experience complete remissions of tics during this period, whereas another one third of patients improve to the point that their tics are relatively mild and do not cause impairment. Some evidence shows that adolescent tic severity may be of more prognostic value.