---Introduction

This article is meant to disseminate recent scientific progress on Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome (GTS). Through the end of the year, it will be a work in progress, maintained as a web page on the Authorea online authoring platform. Shortly after the end of the year, we plan to submit it for publication as the annual update for the Tics collection on F1000Research.

Methods

We searched PubMed using the search strategy ("Tic Disorders"[MeSH] OR Tourette NOT Tourette[AU] NOT Tourette[COIS]) AND 2022[PDAT] NOT 1950:2021[PDAT]. On 09 Jan 2023 this search returned 216 citations, available at this link. Colleagues also recommended articles, and we attended selected medical conferences. We selected material for this review subjectively, guided by our judgment of possible future impact on the field.

Results

Phenomenology and natural history

Definition

On blinded video review, the frequency of "extra" (non-goal-directed) movements was more than three times higher in patients with a tic disorder than in people without a tic disorder,  vocalizations were > 22 times more frequent, and obsessive-compulsive and depressive symptoms were much more common \citep{36565297}. However, the occurrence and frequency of "extra" movements overlapped between those with and without a tic disorder: therefore, the authors concluded that surplus movements per se are not sufficient to diagnose tics; the repetitive character, timing pattern, and associated features of tics such as premonitory urges are necessary too. These results will not surprise tic clinicians, but highlight difficulties to diagnose and count tics by artificial intelligence analysis of video data.
Sensory phenomena and premonitory urge
\citep{Essing2022} published important paper regarding the location of premonitory urge (PU)in patients with tics. This was an online study in 291 adults with tic disorders in which participants self-reported about different characteristics of PU. The authors found that PUs were located in the same body part or in direct proximity to the part of the body where tic was located. Most frequently, PUs were found in the area of the face and the head (62.1%). Complex tics were more frequently preceded by PU than simple tics, but there were no differences regarding report of PU for motor and vocal tics. Usually PU were localizaed in the front than the back of the body (73% vs. 27%), but there were no differences between the right and left sides.