Parent-Report Sleep Disturbances and Everyday Executive Functioning Difficulties in Children with Tourette Syndrome

ABSTRACT

There is an increasing need to identify and treat sleep disturbances in Tourette syndrome (TS), a neurodevelopmental condition characterized by tics. This study explored sleep, tics, and executive functioning in children with TS (n=136) and neurotypical controls (n=101) through parent-report scales and open-ended questions. 85% of children with TS scored in the clinical range for a sleep disorder. Higher tic severity predicted increased sleep disturbances and executive difficulties. Qualitative insights indicated a bidirectional link between sleep and tics, which warrants consideration in clinical settings. Further research is needed to explore causal links.

KEYWORDS:

• Tourette syndrome
• sleep
• executive function
• mixed methods

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by the Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholarship (ID: GOIPG/2020/1412). The authors have no competing interests to declare.