[A multicenter controlled study on aripiprazole treatment for children with Tourette syndrome in China]

To evaluate the efficacy and safety of aripiprazole in the treatment of children with Tourette syndrome.

A prospective, multi-center, controlled clinical trial was conducted in 195 children aged 5-17 years with Tourette syndrome. The patients were assigned to two groups: aripiprazole group (n=98) and tiapride group (n=97), with the treatment dosage of 5-25 mg/d and 100-500 mg/d, respectively. After 12 weeks treatment, the clinical efficacy was assessed by the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS) score, and adverse reactions were observed by side effects symptoms scale, blood biochemical indexes, and electrocardiography.

Significant pre- and post-treatment differences were ascertained for motor tic, phonic tic, function damage and total scores of YGTSS in the both groups from the second week of treatment (P<0.0001). Compared with the tiapride group, the aripiprazole group showed a more significantly decreased function damage score of YGTSS by the second week of treatment (P<0.05). After 12 weeks treatment, total scores of YGTSS in the aripiprazole group decreased from 53.74±15.71 at baseline to 24.36±16.38, while in the tiapride group from 51.66±13.63 to 23.26±15.31. The mean reduction scores of YGTSS were 29.38 in the aripiprazole group and 28.40 in the tiapride group at the end of treatment, and the clinical response rates were 60.21% and 63.92%, respectively. There were no significant differences between the 2 groups (P>0.05). The incidence of adverse reactions was similar in the aripiprazole and tiapride groups, with 29.6% and 27.8% respectively. There were no significant differences in the incidence of adverse reactions between aripiprazole and tiapride groups and no severe adverse events were found in either group.

The results showed that aripiprazole showed similar therapeutic effect to tiapride in treatment of children with Tourette syndrome. Aripiprazole was safe and well tolerated in Chinese population, and can be considered as a new valid option for the treatment of tic disorders.