A retrospective analysis of physical and mental disorders before and after tic disorders diagnosis

Abstract

Tic disorders are neurodevelopment disorders that typically begin in childhood. Few studies have explored the relationship between tic disorders and other physical and mental diseases. This study aims to identify which physical and mental diseases are more likely to occur before tic disorders diagnosis and which coexist afterward. We include 52,953 tic patients with 837,801 visits and a matched control group of 14,537 with 164,619 visits. We found that the primary system affected in tic disorders are respiratory system disorders; symptoms, signs, and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings mental and behavioral disorder; diseases of the eye and adnexa, and diseases of the ear and mastoid process with significant differences compared to control group (χ2 = 112.54, p < 0.001). Importantly, the disease systems involved before and after tic disorders diagnosis are essentially the same, but specific high-incidence diseases differ. In the male and children’s groups, vasomotor and allergic rhinitis and conjunctivitis were most common before diagnosis, while abnormal involuntary movements and hyperkinetic disorders were most common after diagnosis. In the adolescent group, vasomotor and allergic rhinitis and hyperkinetic disorders were the most common both before and after diagnosis. In the female group, conjunctivitis and other respiratory disorders were most common before diagnosis, while abnormal involuntary movements and other respiratory disorders were most common after diagnosis. Future research should focus on timely interventions for these physical and mental diseases to potentially reduce the incidence of tic disorders.

Keywords

• Tic disorders
• physical diseases
• children and adolescents
• retrospective analysis