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. 2013 Dec;28(12):1626-36.
doi: 10.1177/0883073812465121. Epub 2012 Nov 8.

Health care needs of children with Tourette syndrome

Rebecca H Bitsko  1 , Melissa Danielson, Michael King, Susanna N Visser, Lawrence Scahill, Ruth Perou
Affiliations

Health care needs of children with Tourette syndrome

Rebecca H Bitsko et al. J Child Neurol. 2013 Dec.

Abstract

To document the impact of Tourette syndrome on the health care needs of children and access to health care among youth with Tourette syndrome, parent-reported data from the 2007-2008 National Survey of Children's Health were analyzed. Children with Tourette syndrome had more co-occurring mental disorders than children with asthma or children without Tourette syndrome or asthma and had health care needs that were equal to or greater than children with asthma (no Tourette syndrome) or children with neither asthma nor Tourette syndrome. Health care needs were greatest among children with Tourette syndrome and co-occurring mental disorders, and these children were least likely to receive effective care coordination. Addressing co-occurring conditions may improve the health and well-being of children with Tourette syndrome. Strategies such as integration of behavioral health and primary care may be needed to improve care coordination.

Keywords: Tourette syndrome; behavioral health; care coordination; health care; mental disorders; tics.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: All other authors are employees of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and have no conflict of interest or disclosures.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Analytic groups (with un-weighted sample sizes) for health care needs among children with Tourette Syndrome, 2007 National Survey of Children’s Health. A. Groups comparing children with current Tourette Syndrome, current asthma without Tourette Syndrome, and children without Tourette Syndrome or asthma. B. Analyses of sub-groups of children with Tourette Syndrome compared with children without Tourette Syndrome, or to each other.
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