Parental Psychopathology and Tourette Syndrome/Chronic Tic Disorder in Offspring: A Nationwide Case-Control Study.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the associations between maternal and paternal psychiatric diagnoses and Tourette syndrome (TS)/chronic tic disorder (CT) in a nationwide study.


METHODS
This nested case-control study linked data derived from three national registers. All singletons born and diagnosed with TS/CT in Finland between January 1991 and December 2010 were identified (n = 1,120) and matched to four controls (n = 4,299). Conditional logistic regression was used to examine the associations between parental psychopathology and TS/CT.


RESULTS
Altogether, 24.9% of patients with TS/CT and 12.0% of controls had a mother with a psychiatric diagnosis. Similarly, 17.9% and 12.9% had a father with a psychiatric diagnosis. Any maternal and any paternal psychiatric diagnosis was associated with offspring TS/CT (odds ratio [OR] 2.3; 95% CI 1.9-2.7 and OR 1.2; 95% CI 1.01-1.5, respectively). The association between maternal psychiatric diagnosis and TS/CT was stronger than that between paternal psychiatric diagnosis and TS/CT (p < .001). Maternal personality disorders (OR 3.1, 95% CI 1.9-5.1), anxiety disorders (OR 2.6, 95% CI 1.9-3.5), affective disorders (OR 2.3, 95% CI 1.8-2.9), psychotic disorders (OR 2.0, 95% CI 1.2-3.3), and addiction disorders (OR 1.8, 95% CI 1.1-2.8) were associated with TS/CT. Paternal OCD (OR 6.5, 95% CI 1.1-39.5) and anxiety disorders (OR 1.5, 95% CI 1.1-2.3) were associated with TS/CT.


CONCLUSIONS
Parental psychiatric diagnoses (especially in the mother) are associated with diagnosed offspring TS/CT. Further studies are required before the results can be generalized to all children with TS/CT. The associations between maternal psychiatric disorders and TS may reflect both maternal specific environmental and/or genetic influences.
University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland; Child Neurology, Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki, Finland.
Susanna
S
Leivonen
Center for Human Genetics Research, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Harvard Medical School, Boston.
Jeremiah M
JM
Scharf
Genetics Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville.
Carol A
CA
Mathews
University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.
Roshan
R
Chudal
University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.
David
D
Gyllenberg
University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.
Dan
D
Sucksdorff
University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.
Auli
A
Suominen
Child Neurology, Helsinki University Hospital and University of Helsinki, Finland.
Arja
A
Voutilainen
Columbia University Medical Center and New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York City.
Alan S
AS
Brown
University of Turku and Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland. Electronic address: andre.sourander@utu.fi.
Andre
A
Sourander
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D016241:Child of Impaired Parents / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012042:Registries / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013981:Tic Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005879:Tourette Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
Tourette syndrome; parental psychiatric diagnoses; risk factor