Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2020 Jun 24;4(2):86-90.
doi: 10.1002/ped4.12189. eCollection 2020 Jun.

Correlation between premonitory urges and tic symptoms in a Chinese population with tic disorders

Yi Gu  1 , Ying Li  1 , Yonghua Cui  1
Affiliations

Correlation between premonitory urges and tic symptoms in a Chinese population with tic disorders

Yi Gu et al. Pediatr Investig. .

Abstract

Importance: Tics usually start around 4-6 years old and affect about 1% of school-age children. Premonitory urges (PUs) are sensory phenomena that precede tics and are often described as unpleasant feelings. Recent evidence supports a relationship between PUs and tic severity, but reports are conflicting. In addition, there is no report of PUs in the Chinese population.

Objective: To investigate the correlation between PUs and tic symptoms in the Chinese population with tic disorders.

Methods: We recruited 252 Chinese individuals with chronic tic disorders (age 5-16 years). The Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS) was used to assess tic symptoms, and the Premonitory Urge for Tics Scale (PUTS) was used to assess PUs. We calculated Spearman correlations between PUTS and YGTSS scores, and constructed a linear regression model to predict the tic symptom severity by PUs.

Results: There was a significant positive correlation between PU severity (PUTS scores) and motor tic severity, total tic severity, tic-caused impairment (YGTSS scores) (P < 0.05). PU severity was a significant positive predictor of tic symptom severity (standardized beta coefficient = 0.174, t = 2.786, P = 0.006).

Interpretation: We provide evidence for a correlation between PUs and tic symptoms. PU severity predicts tic symptom severity. Further research on PUs is needed to clarify the shared brain mechanism with tics, and their role in tic expression. A suitable tool to assess PUs in younger children is also needed.

Keywords: Premonitory Urge for Tics Scale (PUTS); Premonitory urge; Tics; Tourette syndrome.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

None.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Occurrence rates of tic symptom locations in the population with tic disorders.
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
The predicted probability plot for the linear regression model.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Cravedi E, Deniau E, Giannitelli M, Xavier J, Hartmann A, Cohen D. Tourette syndrome and other neurodevelopmental disorders: A comprehensive review. Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health. 2017;11:59. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Yang C, Zhang L, Zhu P, Zhu C, Guo Q. The prevalence of tic disorders for children in China: A systematic review and meta‐analysis. Medicine (Baltimore). 2016;95:e4354. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kwak C, Dat Vuong K, Jankovic J. Premonitory sensory phenomenon in Tourette’s syndrome. Mov Disord. 2003;18:1530–1533. - PubMed
    1. Rajagopal S, Seri S, Cavanna AE. Premonitory urges and sensorimotor processing in Tourette syndrome. Behav Neurol. 2013;27:65–73. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Sutherland Owens AN, Miguel EC, Swerdlow NR. Sensory gating scales and premonitory urges in Tourette syndrome. Scientific World Journal. 2011;11:736–741. - PMC - PubMed