What happens to tic disorders over time?

What is it about?

This article reviews what we know about the question, "what will happen with my (child's) tics over time?" We discuss the following: * characteristics before tics begin that predict outcome, * information about prognosis of Provisional Tic Disorder (tics within a year after the first tic), * typical course of chronic tic disorders in adolescence and early adulthood, * brief or prolonged periods when tics disappear, * recurrence of childhood tics in adult life, * adult-onset tics, * quality of life over time, * course of symptoms other than tics in Tourette syndrome, * features at tic onset that predict outcome, * features after 1+ years of ticcing that predict future outcome, and * what we think changes in the brain when tics improve with age. We focus on recent publications, but include a more comprehensive table. The final article is copyrighted and requires a subscription to view, but the full text is available for free at the links on this page to the preprint or to the publisher's article sharing page.

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Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Until recently, only a few indicators of outcome for *individuals* with tics have been available. However, this is the question patients and families actually want the answers to, rather than what we have known more about, namely "on average, how do people's tics change over time?"