Tic assessment
European Society for the Study of Tourette Syndrome (ESSTS) \cite{Szejko2022} published revised version of their guidelines for assessment of tics. As the golden standard for assessment of tics, the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS) was listed. Along with recomendations about assessment of tics and psychiatric comorbidities, the authors also provided assessments that facilitate the differential diagnosis and assessment of cognitive abilities, emotional functions and motor skills.
\cite{Beeler2022} investigated tic fractality by examining two tic time series datasets collected 6-12 months apart in children with tics using random walk models and directional statistics. The authors showed that tics are fractal in nature and tools examining this characteristic could be used to estimate tic severity and treatment effectiviness as well as possible marker for differentiating tics from functional tic-like behaviors.
Phenomenology
Baizabal-Carvalho and Jankovic compared phenomenology of tics and comorbidities in males and females with GTS \cite{Baizabal-Carvallo2022b}. Males represented 77.6% of the cohort comprising 201 GTS patients. No differences regarding frequency, distribution and complexity of tics were detected. Males with GTS had higher frequency of ADHD. In children with TS, males not only had higher rate of ADHD than females, but also had higher frequency of complex motor tics and earlier age at onset than females. These differences were not detected in adults with GTS, since tic complexity increases in females with aging.
Video-recordings of 156 patients with TS were assessed for tic duration \cite{Baizabal-Carvallo2022}. Dystonic tics were longer lasting than tonic tics. Furthermore, patients with dystonic tics has older age of onset, older age at evaluation, greater tic severity, more complex tics, and increased risk for being considered for deep brain stimuation than patients with tonic tics.