2 Tic disorders range from mild to severe. Or a person could have Tourette's syndrome, which in its most severe form includes a waxing and waning of multiple motor and vocal tics over a person's entire lifespan. Tics usually diminish during sleep. Tics may lessen during absorbing activities, such as reading or sports. Tics are experienced as irresistible, but can be suppressed for varying lengths of time.
Tics affect males three times more frequently than females.
Vocal tics may occur in each disorder. Tics usually appear for the first time in patients under age 18. An estimated 12 to 24 percent of children in the United States exhibit some intensity of tics. 4 Many have transient tic disorders, in which tics usually appear before age 12 and continue for as little as a month or as long as a year. The majority of the tics consist of a simple motor tic that may last only a few months.