ADHD 'Joins' 90 Percent of Tourette Syndrome Patients

Research conducted on Tourette Syndrome (TS) patients has revealed that approximately 90 percent of them have another, concurring medical condition alongside this diseases. Most often, the second affliction is the attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), which makes the lives of people suffering from TS all the more complicated. In a recent study, experts looked at the correlations between the two conditions and learned that, while they, indeed, had major genetic components, the risk of developing them could be significantly reduced by monitoring a number of perinatal factors.

A team of medical experts from the University of Calgary and the University of Toronto has only recently finished conducting a scientific survey on some 400 children suffering from TS and ADHD, in an attempt to better understand the connections between the conditions. A paper detailing the new study is published in the April 13th edition of the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.

“We know that perinatal stress is a risk factor for ADHD alone. If you were low birth weight, if your mother smoked during pregnancy, or if you were born prematurely, all these things increase the risk of ADHD,” the lead author of the study, University of Calgary Faculty of Medicine Professor Dr. Tamara Pringsheim, who is also the director of the Calgary Tourette Syndrome Clinic, explained. She also added that controlling these perinatal factors could drastically reduce the risk of TS children developing ADHD as well.

In the group that they studied, researchers included Tourette Syndrome patients with or without ADHD, and looked at the influence that factors such as low birth weight, prematurity, and maternal smoking had on the emergence of ADHD. According to the results, kids who were exhibited to perinatal factors were 200 to 300 percent more likely to develop the attention deficit disease than those in the control group. “Not smoking, trying to ensure a healthy weight for the baby, and receiving appropriate medical care” were the very basic things would-be mothers should focus on in order to avoid giving birth to sick children, Pringsheim added.

“Research into Tourette syndrome is vital. We have seen the difference it can make to have accurate information about this disorder and better medications. There are a lot of misconceptions out there about people who suffer from Tourette. The images we see on TV and movies are completely false. I have some patients who have severe tics, but less than 10% of patients with Tourette syndrome swear. It's uncommon,” the expert concluded.