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

Given the widely recognized genetic basis for Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (TS) and the suggestion that the putative TS gene(s) may be expressed as or associated with a variety of psychiatric illnesses, this study was undertaken to assess the prevalence of tics and TS in a psychiatric inpatient population. Cross-sectional study. 200 consecutive adult patients who were admitted to the psychiatric wards of University College London Teaching Hospitals. TS and related behaviours, as assessed by the comprehensive semi-structured National Hospital Interview Schedule. None of the 200 patients had definite TS, but 2 were observed to have motor tics; 10 had a history of tics (present for less than a year), and 7 reported a family history of tics. Thus, 19 (9.5%) inpatients qualified for inclusion in a broadly defined TS diathesis. These rates are significantly lower than those reported in a similar community based epidemiological study of adolescents (p = 0.018). Our findings do not support the theory that TS and related behaviours are over-represented among adult inpatients with psychiatric illnesses.