Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-22T16:23:46.926Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Tics and Heredity

A Study of the Relatives of Child Tiqueurs

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

D. M. Zausmer
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3BX
M. E. Dewey*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3BX
*
Correspondence

Abstract

The limited literature on the pedigrees of tiqueurs, including those with Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome, is reviewed. Most statistical analyses have been restricted to affected family members without specifying the unaffected ones. The present statistical analysis of a series of child tiqueurs, including 91 probands and 1293 first- and second-degree relatives, 46 of whom were tiqueurs, predicts the odds on being a tiqueur for individuals, and establishes how those odds are affected by certain explanatory variables using log-linear models. The data do not confirm a familial pattern beyond reasonable doubt, but if the suggested prevalence of tics in the population is 10% then the figure for parents is large enough to support a familial hypothesis. The pedigrees do not indicate a simple mode of genetic transmission. Further research is needed to confirm that there is a connection between childhood tics and Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome, to establish that the predisposition to tics is familial, and, if so, whether there is a complex genetic mechanism involved, or some other environmental aetiology so far undisclosed.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © 1987 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bishop, Y. M. M., Fienberg, S. E. & Holland, P. W. (1975) Discrete Multivariate Analysis. Cambridge, Ma: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Brown, M. B. (1976) Screening effects in multidimensional contingency tables. Applied Statistics, 25, 3746.Google Scholar
Comings, D. E., Gursey, B. T., Hecht, T. & Blume, K. (1982a) HLA typing in Tourette Syndrome. In Advances in Neurology, Vol. 35. New York: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Comings, D. E., Gursey, B. T., Avelino, E., Kopp, U. & Hanin, I. (1982b) Red blood cell choline in Tourette Syndrome. In Advances in Neurology, Vol. 35. New York: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Corbett, J. A., Mathews, A. M., Connell, P. H. & Shapiro, D. A. (1969) Tics and Gilles de la Tourette's Syndrome: a follow-up study and critical review. British Journal of Psychiatry, 115, 12291241.Google Scholar
Friedhoff, A. J. & Chase, T. N. (1982) Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome. In Advances in Neurology, Vol. 35. New York: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Haberman, S. J. (1973) AS51 Log-linear fit for contingency tables. Applied Statistics, 22, 218225.Google Scholar
Kidd, K. K. & Pauls, D. L. (1982) Genetic hypotheses for Tourette Syndrome. In Advances in Neurology, Vol. 35. New York: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Kidd, K. K., Prusoff, B. A. & Cohen, D. J. (1980) Familial pattern of Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome. Archives of General Psychiatry, 37, 13361339.Google Scholar
Kondo, K. & Nomura, Y. (1982) Tourette Syndrome in Japan: etiologic considerations based on associated factors and familial clusterting. In Advances in Neurology, Vol. 35. New York: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Lustbader, E. D. & Stodola, R. K. (1981) AS160 Partial and marginal association in multidimensional tables. Applied Statistics, 30, 97105.Google Scholar
Mahler, M. S., Luke, J. A. & Daltroff, W. (1945) Clinical and follow-up study of the tic syndrome in children. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 15, 631647.Google Scholar
Moloofsky, H., Tullis, C. & Lamon, R. (1974) Multiple tic syndrome (Gilles de la Tourette's syndrome): clinical, biological & psychological variables and their influence with haloperidol. Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, 159, 282292.Google Scholar
Shapiro, A. K., Shapiro, E. & Wayne, H. (1972) Birth, developmental, and family histories and demographic information in Tourette's Syndrome. Journal of Nervous and Mental Diseases, 155, 335344.Google Scholar
Shapiro, A. K., Shapiro, E., Bruun, R. D. & Sweet, R. D. (1978) Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome. New York: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Torup, E. (1962) A follow-up study of children with tics. Acta Paediatrica Scandinavica, 15, 261268.Google Scholar
Wilson, R. S., Garron, D. C. & Kalawans, H. L. (1978) Significance of genetic factors in Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome: a review. Behavior Genetics, 8, 503510.Google Scholar
Zausmer, D. M. (1954) The treatment of tics in childhood: a review and a follow-up study. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 29, 537542.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.