Objective: This study examined sleep disorders and sleep medication use rates, nighttime tics, and sleep and chronotype in relation to tic and co-occurring symptoms in adults with persistent tic disorders (PTDs), including Tourette's disorder (TD).
Methods: One hundred twenty-five adult internet survey respondents rated sleep history, sleep, chronotype, tic severity, impairment, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, anxiety, depression, and emotional and behavioral dyscontrol.
Results: Bruxism, insomnia, tic-related difficulty falling asleep, and melatonin use were commonly endorsed. Sleep disturbance correlated with impairment, obsessive-compulsive symptoms, and emotional and behavioral dyscontrol. Eveningness correlated with vocal and total tic severity only in TD. Controlling for age and sex, age, impairment, and obsessive-compulsive symptoms predicted sleep disturbance, and age and tic severity predicted chronotype.
Conclusions: Impairment and obsessive-compulsive symptoms play a role in sleep disturbance in adults with PTDs, and may be intervention targets. Eveningness relates to tic severity, which may suggest the utility of interventions to advance chronotype.
Keywords: Tourette syndrome; chronotype; impairment; obsessive compulsive disorder; sleep.
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