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Heritability of tic disorders: a twin-family study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 December 2016

N. R. Zilhão ,
M. C. Olthof ,
D. J. A. Smit ,
D. C. Cath ,
L. Ligthart ,
C. A. Mathews ,
K. Delucchi ,
D. I. Boomsma  and
C. V. Dolan
N. R. Zilhão*
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
M. C. Olthof
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands
D. J. A. Smit
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Department of Psychiatry, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
D. C. Cath
Affiliation:
Department of Clinical Psychology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands Altrecht Academic Anxiety Center, Utrecht, The Netherlands
L. Ligthart
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
C. A. Mathews
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA
K. Delucchi
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco, CA, USA
D. I. Boomsma
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
C. V. Dolan
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
*
*Address for correspondence: N. R. Zilhão, Department of Biological Psychology, Vrije Universiteit, van der Boechorststraat 1, 1081 BT Amsterdam, The Netherlands. (Email: n.rodrigueszilhaonogueira@vu.nl)
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Abstract

Background

Genetic–epidemiological studies that estimate the contributions of genetic factors to variation in tic symptoms are scarce. We estimated the extent to which genetic and environmental influences contribute to tics, employing various phenotypic definitions ranging between mild and severe symptomatology, in a large population-based adult twin-family sample.

Method

In an extended twin-family design, we analysed lifetime tic data reported by adult mono- and dizygotic twins (n = 8323) and their family members (n = 7164; parents and siblings) from 7311 families in the Netherlands Twin Register. We measured tics by the abbreviated version of the Schedule for Tourette and Other Behavioral Syndromes. Heritability was estimated by genetic structural equation modeling for four tic disorder definitions: three dichotomous and one trichotomous phenotype, characterized by increasingly strictly defined criteria.

Results

Prevalence rates of the different tic disorders in our sample varied between 0.3 and 4.5% depending on tic disorder definition. Tic frequencies decreased with increasing age. Heritability estimates varied between 0.25 and 0.37, depending on phenotypic definitions. None of the phenotypes showed evidence of assortative mating, effects of shared environment or non-additive genetic effects.

Conclusions

Heritabilities of mild and severe tic phenotypes were estimated to be moderate. Overlapping confidence intervals of the heritability estimates suggest overlapping genetic liabilities between the various tic phenotypes. The most lenient phenotype (defined only by tic characteristics, excluding criteria B, C and D of DSM-IV) rendered sufficiently reliable heritability estimates. These findings have implications in phenotypic definitions for future genetic studies.

Keywords

DSMheritabilitystructural equation modelingtic symptomsTourette's syndrome
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 47 , Issue 6 , April 2017 , pp. 1085 - 1096
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2016 

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Footnotes

† Both authors contributed equally to this work.

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