Abstract
Premonitory urges are uncomfortable physical sensations preceding tics that occur in most individuals with a chronic tic disorder. The Premonitory Urge for Tics Scale (PUTS) is the most frequently used self-report measure to assess the severity of premonitory urges. We aimed to evaluate the psychometric properties of the PUTS in the largest sample size to date (n = 656), in children aged 3–16 years, from the baseline measurement of the longitudinal European Multicenter Tics in Children Study (EMTICS). Our psychometric evaluation was done in three age-groups: children aged 3–7 years (n = 103), children between 8 and 10 years (n = 253), and children aged 11–16 years (n = 300). The PUTS exhibited good internal reliability in children and adolescents, also under the age of 10, which is younger than previously thought. We observed significant but small correlations between the severity of urges and severity of tics and obsessive–compulsive symptoms, and between severity of urges and ratings of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and internalizing and externalizing behaviors, however, only in children of 8–10 years. Consistent with previous results, the 10th item of the PUTS correlated less with the rest of the scale compared to the other items and, therefore, should not be used as part of the questionnaire. We found a two-factor structure of the PUTS in children of 11 years and older, distinguishing between sensory phenomena related to tics, and mental phenomena as often found in obsessive–compulsive disorder. The age-related differences observed in this study may indicate the need for the development of an age-specific questionnaire to assess premonitory urges.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry |
| Volume | 29 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1411-1424 |
| Number of pages | 14 |
| ISSN | 1018-8827 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 01.10.2020 |
Funding
Müller-Vahl received funding for research from the EU (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-ITN No. 316978), the German Research Society (DFG: GZ MU 1527/3-1), the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF: 01KG1421), the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), GW, Almirall, Abide Therapeutics, and Therapix Biosciences, and consultant’s honoraria from Abide Therapeutics, Fundacion Canna, and Therapix Biosiences. Acknowledgements The authors are deeply grateful to all children and their parents who willingly participated to make this research possible. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under Grant agreement no. 278367. This research was supported by Stiftung Immunität und Seele (Burger, Müller, Schnell); and the National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre at Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust and University College London (Heyman); and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG): projects 1692/3-1, 4-1 and FOR 2698 (Münchau); We thank all colleagues at the various study centers who contributed to data collection: Julie E. Bruun, Judy Grejsen, Christine L. Ommundsen, Mette Rubæk (Capital Region Psychiatry, Copenhagen, Denmark); Stephanie Enghardt (TUD Dresden, Germany); Stefanie Bokemeyer, Christiane Driedger-Garbe, Cornelia Reichert (MHH Hannover, Germany); Jenny Schmalfeld (Lübeck University, Germany); Elif Weidinger (LMU Munich, Germany); Martin L. Woods (Evelina London Children’s Hospital, United Kingdom); Susanne Walitza (University of Zurich, Switzerland); Franciska Gergye, Margit Kovacs, Reka Vidomusz (Vadaskert Budapest, Hungary); Silvana Fennig, Ella Gev, Matan Nahon, Danny Horesh, Chen Regev, Tomer Simcha, (Tel Aviv, Petah-Tikva, Israel); Mascha van den Akker, Els van den Ban, Sebastian F.T.M. de Bruijn, Nicole Driessen, Andreas Lamerz, Marieke Messchendorp, Judith J.G. Rath, Anne Marie Stolte, Nadine Schalk, Deborah Sival, Noor Tromp and the Stichting Gilles de la Tourette (UMCG Groningen, Netherlands); Maria Teresa Cáceres, Fátima Carrillo, Laura Vargas, Ángela Periañez Vasco (Seville, Spain); and all who may not have been mentioned.
Research Areas and Centers
- Academic Focus: Center for Brain, Behavior and Metabolism (CBBM)
