2023 American Academy of Neurology Abstract Website

Objective:

To assess the association between time spent playing videogames on attention and behavior in adolescents with Tourette's Syndrome (TS).

Background:

As adolescents spend more time playing videogames, the effects of gaming on cognitive and behavioral function remain heavily debated. There is literature emphasizing the negative effects of gaming on conduct, but there is also literature showing improvement in attention skills. This may be dependent on the amount of time spent on gaming. The effects of videogaming on attention and conduct in adolescents with TS have not been investigated yet.

Design/Methods:

Patients with TS, age 12-19, seen at the Rush Movement Disorders Clinic were invited to participate in the study. They completed questionnaires including demographics and number of hours spent playing video games per day (0-1, 1-3, more than 3 hours). The primary outcome measures included the Continuous Performance Test, 3rd Edition (CPT-3) and the Behavioral Assessment System for Children, 3rd Edition (BASC). Other assessments included the Yale Global Total Tic Severity Scale (YGTTSS), Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (YBOCS), and Revised Children's Manifest Anxiety Scale (RCMAS). Demographics were summarized with descriptive statistics. CPT-3 (detectability, omissions, commissions, hit reaction, variability) and BASC (externalizing, internalizing, behavioral problems) T-scores were compared between groups of time spent gaming using the ANOVA model.

Results:

19 subjects were included in the study, 11 male, mean age 14.8 (SD 1.9), mean YGTTSS 53.4 (SD 14.2), median YBOCS 8 (range 0-42), and median RCMAS 14 (range 4-38). 47.4% of subjects carried the diagnosis of ADHD, 5.3% learning disorder, 36.8% obsessive compulsive disorder, 26.3% depression, and 68.4% anxiety. There was no significant association between time spent playing video games and CPT-3 or BASC.

Conclusions:

In this cohort, time spent videogaming did not affect attention or behavior in TS patients. We will continue to recruit patients to adequately characterize this in a larger cohort.