[News Terms] Reason for Pop Star's Concert Suspension: 'Tourette Syndrome'

'Tourette syndrome' is a neurological disorder that causes involuntary, sudden movements (tics) and sounds.

These include eye blinking, facial grimacing, throwing objects, shaking the head, shrugging shoulders, sniffing, swearing, or making animal sounds. When these tic disorders become more severe and both at least one motor tic and one vocal tic persist for more than one year, it is diagnosed as Tourette syndrome. The disorder is named after the French physician Georges Gilles de la Tourette, who first reported it.

Actor Lee Kwang-soo is portraying a patient with Tourette syndrome.
[Photo by SBS 'It's Okay, That's Love' capture]

Tourette syndrome is generally hereditary. If there is a tic disorder in the family, the probability of onset is about 25%, and in the case of identical twins, the incidence rate is as high as 90%. It mainly occurs around the age of 7 during childhood, with a prevalence three times higher in males than females, and the number of patients has been increasing recently in Korea as well.

In fact, about 1% of school-age and adolescent children are known to have symptoms of Tourette syndrome. Most cases are mild and disappear naturally with age, so many patients or their parents may not even realize they had Tourette syndrome and recover completely. Many patients with Tourette syndrome have average intelligence and income levels.

In severe cases, brain surgery or deep brain stimulation therapy may be used for treatment, but in most cases, tics are controlled through medication or cognitive-behavioral therapy for behavioral correction without surgery.

Scottish singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi (26) announced on the 27th of last month (local time) that he would take a break from touring until the end of this year, citing a worsening of his Tourette syndrome. Capaldi posted on social media, "I am still learning how to adapt to the effects of Tourette’s, and I realized last Saturday that I need to devote much more time to recovering my mental and physical health in order to continue doing all the things I love for a long time to come."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.