'Robust' Increase in Tics During the Pandemic Explained?

'Robust' Increase in Tics During the Pandemic Explained?

Pauline Anderson

March 02, 2022

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Updated March 4, 2022 // Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional comments from Davide Martino, MD, PhD, of the University of Calgary, Canada.

Early results from a new study show a significant correlation between tic severity and social media use during the COVID pandemic in adolescents with a preexisting tic disorder.

Dr Jessica Frey

The findings should help answer questions surrounding a recent increase in tic disorders, lead author Jessica Frey, MD, a movement disorders fellow at the University of Florida, Gainesville, told Medscape Medical News.

"We're trying to learn why there are new onset explosive tic disorders [or] functional tic disorders, and to find ways to educate patients, parents, and the general public about what Tourette Syndrome looks like — and how we can help patients have a better quality of life," Frey said.

The findings will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) 2022 Annual Meeting in April.

"Robust" Increase

A neurologic disorder that causes sudden repetitive involuntary muscle movements and sounds, Tourette Syndrome typically develops in childhood, worsens in adolescence, and improves or completely disappears in adulthood, Frey noted.

The condition is often negatively portrayed in films, showing people using obscene gestures or vulgar language, she said.

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