Efficacy of differential reinforcement of other behaviors therapy for tic disorder: a meta-analysis

Recently, studies on behavioral tic suppression techniques have gained popularity as opposed to pharmacological alternatives that often have potentially dangerous side effects. Differential Reinforcement of Other Behaviors therapy (DRO) is one such behavioral technique whose efficacy in tic suppression has been experimentally demonstrated albeit in studies with very few patients, and lacking statistical power. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis of these studies to improve their overall power and explore whether DRO intervention is really effective for tic suppression. PubMed, Embase, PsycINFO, and Cochrane Library were searched from inception to August 30, 2023. Only original interventional studies that examined the efficacy of DRO for tic suppression were included. A total of 8 no control interventional studies involving 79 children with tic disorders were recruited. Most of the children had moderate tic severity. The pooled mean Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS) score was 24.64 (95% CI: 21.99 - 30.12, p =