- Abdulkadir, Mohamed;
- Tischfield, Jay A;
- King, Robert A;
- Fernandez, Thomas V;
- Brown, Lawrence W;
- Cheon, Keun-Ah;
- Coffey, Barbara J;
- de Bruijn, Sebastian FTM;
- Elzerman, Lonneke;
- Garcia-Delgar, Blanca;
- Gilbert, Donald L;
- Grice, Dorothy E;
- Hagstrøm, Julie;
- Hedderly, Tammy;
- Heyman, Isobel;
- Hong, Hyun Ju;
- Huyser, Chaim;
- Ibanez-Gomez, Laura;
- Kim, Young Key;
- Kim, Young-Shin;
- Koh, Yun-Joo;
- Kook, Sodahm;
- Kuperman, Samuel;
- Lamerz, Andreas;
- Leventhal, Bennett;
- Ludolph, Andrea G;
- Madruga-Garrido, Marcos;
- Maras, Athanasios;
- Messchendorp, Marieke D;
- Mir, Pablo;
- Morer, Astrid;
- Münchau, Alexander;
- Murphy, Tara L;
- Openneer, Thaïra JC;
- Plessen, Kerstin J;
- Rath, Judith JG;
- Roessner, Veit;
- Fründt, Odette;
- Shin, Eun-Young;
- Sival, Deborah A;
- Song, Dong-Ho;
- Song, Jungeun;
- Stolte, Anne-Marie;
- Tübing, Jennifer;
- van den Ban, Els;
- Visscher, Frank;
- Wanderer, Sina;
- Woods, Martin;
- Zinner, Samuel H;
- State, Matthew W;
- Heiman, Gary A;
- Hoekstra, Pieter J;
- Dietrich, Andrea
Pre- and perinatal complications have been implicated in the onset and clinical expression of Tourette syndrome albeit with considerable inconsistencies across studies. Also, little is known about their role in co-occurring obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in individuals with a tic disorder. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the role of pre- and perinatal complications in relation to the presence and symptom severity of chronic tic disorder and co-occurring OCD and ADHD using data of 1113 participants from the Tourette International Collaborative Genetics study. This study included 586 participants with a chronic tic disorder and 527 unaffected family controls. We controlled for age and sex differences by creating propensity score matched subsamples for both case-control and within-case analyses. We found that premature birth (OR = 1.72) and morning sickness requiring medical attention (OR = 2.57) were associated with the presence of a chronic tic disorder. Also, the total number of pre- and perinatal complications was higher in those with a tic disorder (OR = 1.07). Furthermore, neonatal complications were related to the presence (OR = 1.46) and severity (b = 2.27) of co-occurring OCD and also to ADHD severity (b = 1.09). Delivery complications were only related to co-occurring OCD (OR = 1.49). We conclude that early exposure to adverse situations during pregnancy is related to the presence of chronic tic disorders. Exposure at a later stage, at birth or during the first weeks of life, appears to be associated with co-occurring OCD and ADHD.