My father has tourette syndrome, I don – but can I pass it on to my children?
The vast majority of cases of tourette syndrome are passed on from a parent, although there are a minority of incidences where there is no history of tics in the family. Sometimes though, symptoms are easy to miss – the childhood habit that was largely ignored and then grown out of, having to even up – knock one elbow, then you ‘have’ to knock the other one etc. If a parent has the gene, there is a 50% chance of each child inheriting the gene. If they do, a boy has a 99% chance of the gene being expressed either as TS (50%), or another tic disorder, or as ADHD or OCD. TS is closely related to ADHD and OCD, and it is usually the case that other members of the family have symptoms of one or more of the 3 disorders. A girl has a 70% probability of the gene being expressed as one of these disorders. Boys with TS outnumber girls by 4:1. Even without symptoms then, it’s still possible to carry the TS gene. A symptom-free male child is far less likely to carry the gene. That statement though
The vast majority of cases of tourette syndrome are passed on from a parent, although there are a minority of incidences where there is no history of tics in the family. Sometimes though, symptoms are easy to miss – the childhood habit that was largely ignored and then grown out of, having to even up – knock one elbow, then you ‘have’ to knock the other one etc. If a parent has the gene, there is a 50% chance of each child inheriting the gene. If they do, a boy has a 99% chance of the gene being expressed either as TS (50%), or another tic disorder, or as ADHD or OCD. TS is closely related to ADHD and OCD, and it is usually the case that other members of the family have symptoms of one or more of the 3 disorders. A girl has a 70% probability of the gene being expressed as one of these disorders. Boys with TS outnumber girls by 4:1. Even without symptoms then, it’s still possible to carry the TS gene. A symptom-free male child is far less likely to carry the gene. That statement though
