To compare quality of life in males and females with tics.

Quality of life in females has not been widely investigated in patients with tics.

In this study, we have included patients with primary tic disorders enrolled in the Adult Tic Registry of the University of Calgary. All patients have completed the following measurements: the Yale Global Tic Severity (YGTSS), and the Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome – Quality of Life Scale (GTS-QOL). We have included information about the presence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), depression and anxiety. To compare males and females, we used a t-test or logistic regression, and performed a multivariable linear regression to determine the main predictors of quality of life.

We included 98 adult patients, mean age 33.63 (SD 15.12), 67 males (68.4%). We have found that while males and females have similar tic severity, females have lower quality of life defined by the GTS-QOL (p=0.0062), the GTS-QOL visual analogue scale (p=0.0047) and the YGTSS Impairment Score (p=0.04). Females with tic disorders suffered more frequently from anxiety disorders (p=0.039). We ran three multivariable linear regressions with the GTS-QOL, GTS-QOL visual analogue scale and the YGTSS impairment score as the dependent outcome. We included sex, age, total tic severity, and anxiety as predictors in each model. The strongest predictor of low quality of life in each model was tic severity. Female sex was a predictor for lower quality of life, but only as measured with the GTS-VAS (p=0.036). Anxiety contributed to lower quality of life, but only as measured with the GTS-QOL (p=0.011).

Females with tic disorders have lower quality of life than males, but this association is not significant when controlling for tic severity.