NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Women who smoke during pregnancy appear to have a very strong risk of having a child with severe symptoms of Tourette's syndrome and the risk of having obsessive-compulsive disorder is also increased in these children.

Tourette syndrome is a neurological disorder that develops in childhood or adolescence in which patients have involuntary tics involving sudden movements or vocalizations that are rapidly repeated. The symptoms usually occur several times a day, every day or intermittently and are usually mild, but can be severe.

The condition is believed be to associated with many genetic and environmental factors, Dr. Carol A. Mathews and her associates note. While few studies have examined the role of environmental factors, there are suggestions that incidents before or just after birth, as well as the mother's prenatal habits, effect the development of the disorder, its severity, and the risk of having another neurologic condition.

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