[Study on the prevalence of Tourette syndrome in children and juveniles aged 7-16 years in Wenzhou area].
OBJECTIVE
To study the prevalence and distribution of Tourette syndrome (TS).


METHODS
Nine thousand, seven hundred and forty-two children and juveniles aged 7 - 16 years in Wenzhou were studied, using cluster random sampling method.


RESULTS
The prevalence of TS among school-age children was estimated to be 0.43% (0.74% for males and 0.07% for females). The prevalence of male children and juveniles was higher than that of female children and juveniles (chi(2) = 25.09, P < 0.001, prevalence ratio = 10.95, prevalence ratio 95% CI: 3.38 - 35.46). The highest prevalence of TS was between 9 - 10 years old. The mean age at onset of TS was 7.7 +/- 2.7 years, with 45.2% of them among 6 - 7 year olds. The rate of delayed diagnosis and rates of misdiagnosis and misclassification of the syndromes were 78.6%, 42.9% and 23.8%, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Tourette syndrome had been a common disease of children and juveniles in Wenzhou area. The disease was correlated with age and sex, often misdiagnosed and misclassified. Physicians and as well as general publics should be trained to identify the cases.
Jin
Rong
R
Department of Epidemiology and Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical College, Wenzhou 325000, China.
Zheng
Rong-yuan
RY
Huang
Wen-wu
WW
Xu
Hui-qin
HQ
Shao
Pei
P
Chen
Hong
H
Zou
You-lin
YL
Huang
Hai-bo
HB
Zou
Chang-lin
CL
Zhou
Zu-mu
ZM
D000293:Adolescent; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002681:China / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D012737:Sex Factors; D005879:Tourette Syndrome / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*