Prevalence of tics and Tourette syndrome in an inpatient adult psychiatry setting

Objective: Given the widely recognized genetic basis for Gilles de la Toure tte syndrome (TS) and the suggestion that the putative TS gene(s) may be ex pressed as or associated with a variety of psychiatric illnesses, this stud y was undertaken to assess the prevalence of tics and TS in a psychiatric i npatient population. Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting and patients: 2 00 consecutive adult patients who were admitted to the psychiatric wards of University College London Teaching Hospitals. Outcome measures: TS and rel ated behaviours, as assessed by the comprehensive semi-structured National Hospital Interview Schedule. Results: None of the 200 patients had definite TS, but 2 were observed to have motor tics; 10 had a history of tics (pres ent for less than a year), and 7 reported a family history of tics. Thus, 1 9 (9.5%) inpatients qualified for inclusion in a broadly defined TS diathes is. These rates are significantly lower than those reported in a similar co mmunity based epidemiological study of adolescents (p = 0.018). Conclusions : Our findings do not support the theory that TS and related behaviours are over-represented among adult inpatients with psychiatric illnesses.