[Tic hyperkinesis in children in the Republic of Uzbekistan]

To study the semiotics of various forms of tic hyperkinesis in the children's population of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

The study included 236 patients with various forms of tic hyperkinesis who were treated at the Department of Pediatric Neurology of the City Clinical Hospital No. 1 (Tashkent, Uzbekistan) between 2015 and 2025. All patients were divided into three groups: Group 1 included 72 patients with transient tics (16 (22.2%) girls and 56 (77.8%) boys); Group 2 included 129 patients with chronic tics (29 (22.5%) girls and 100 (77.5%) boys); Group 3 included 35 patients with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (5 (14.3%) girls and 30 (85.7%) boys). All study participants underwent a comprehensive clinical and neurological examination. The Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS) was used to objectively assess tic severity.

The prevalence of tics among males is 3.7 times higher than that among females. In transient tics, 59.7% of patients involved a single muscle group, 22.3% involved two groups, and 18% involved three groups. In chronic tics, 21.7% involved a single muscle group, 58.9% involved two groups, 18.6% involved three groups, and 0.8% involved four or more groups. In 97% of patients with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome, three muscle groups were involved, and in 3%, four or more groups. Vocal tics were observed only in patients with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome. The severity of tics, assessed by the YGTSS scale, statistically significantly differed across groups: the highest values were observed in patients with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome (75.9±7.8 points), intermediate in those with chronic tics (44.5±11.9 points), and minimal in subjects with transient tics (31.4±7.9 points). Perinatal CNS injury did not significantly affect tic severity in either study group.

The study results showed that patients with chronic tics accounted for the majority, followed by those with transient tics and those with Gilles de la Tourette syndrome. A statistically significant increase in the severity of tics from transient forms to Gilles de la Tourette syndrome was revealed. However, no significant association between perinatal CNS injury and the severity of tic hyperkinesis was found, regardless of the clinical form of the disorder.