Tourette disorder: a cross-cultural review

Tourette's disorder (TD) is a complex disorder of motor and vocal tics starting in childhood or adolescence. Although the disorder has been researched extensively in North America and Europe, clinical features and associated conditions of TD are less well known in other cultures. The English-language literature relating to TD was searched for cross-cultural case reports, clinical investigations, and epidemiological studies, and the subsequent database was analyzed. The clinical characteristics of TD displayed a strong similarity across cultures. Demography, family history, clinical features, associated conditions, comorbidity, and treatment outcome were essentially the same in the various cultures investigated. The disorder appears world-wide, has similar clinical characteristics, and most likely has an underlying biological and genetic basis.