A Preliminary Study of Finasteride in Tourette Syndrome

This preliminary study investigated the effectiveness of finasteride in treating Tourette syndrome (TS) in adult males. The study found that finasteride resulted in significant reductions in the severity of global symptoms, total tics, motor tics, and phonic tics, as assessed by Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS) scores. Additionally, the study found a significant reduction in total scores and compulsion subscale scores of the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS) in patients with obsessive-compulsive symptoms. However, the lack of treatment blinding in the study design poses important limits to the value of these results in view of the possibility of placebo effects, as well as ascertainment and observer bias.