Preliminary evaluation of child self-rating using the Child Tourette Syndrome Impairment Scale.

AIM: To evaluate and compare how children with Tourette syndrome and parents rate tic and non-tic behavioral related impairment in home, school, and social domains; to compare these with clinician tic ratings; and to identify factors that may predict greater impairment.

METHOD: In a sample of 85 Tourette syndrome and 92 healthy control families, the Child Tourette Syndrome Impairment Scale, designed for parent-report and which includes 37 items rated for tic and non-tic impairment, was administered to parents and, with the referent modified, to children ages 9 to 17 years. Tic severity was rated using the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS). Analyses utilized descriptive and multivariate statistics.

RESULTS

Tourette syndrome children's and parents' impairment ratings were higher than HC (p<0.001) and correlated moderately (r=0.46 to 0.54; p<0.001). Children's and parents' tic impairment ratings correlated with YGTSS (r=0.36 to 0.37; p<0.001). Parents' average ratings were higher than children's for 19 tic and all 37 non-tic impairment items. For 29 items, children self-rated impairment higher for tics than non-tics. Diagnoses of attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder had larger effects on parent impairment ratings.

INTERPRETATION: The Child Tourette Syndrome Impairment Scale appears informative for child self-rating in Tourette syndrome.