Longitudinal Impact of Stressors in Adults With Tourette Syndrome
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Summary
The Investigators propose a two-year, longitudinal pilot study of TS adults (\>18) to determine impact of lifetime environmental stress exposure on tic severity, psychiatric comorbidity severity, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL).
Description
Tourette syndrome (TS) is a widely prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder with limited treatment options,(1,2) substantial impact on quality of life in children(3-7) and adults,(4,8-10) and two-fold increased risk of premature death.(11,12) Tics are the defining feature of TS, and as a result, TS is often narrowly perceived in terms of tics alone. Tics themselves tend to wane in late adolescence, with distressing tics persisting in only one-third of TS patients.(13) Because tics generally diminish with age, the plight of adults with TS is often neglected. Over half of TS adults suffer from anxi…
Eligibility
- Age range
- 18+ years
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- No
Inclusion Criteria: * adults (\>18) meeting Diagnostic and Statistics Manual, 5th edition (DSM-V) criteria for Tourette syndrome, chronic motor tic disorder, or chronic vocal tic disorder * ability to provide informed consent * English proficiency Exclusion Criteria: \- significant medical, neurologic, or psychiatric diagnoses (e.g. uncontrolled epilepsy, chronic heart failure, schizophrenia) besides TS and its commonly co-occurring psychiatric diagnoses
Interventions
- OtherNone - observational study
None - observational study
Location
- Vanderbilt University Medical CenterNashville, Tennessee