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Evdokia Anagnostou, Latha Soorya, William Chaplin, Jennifer Bartz, Danielle Halpern, Stacey Wasserman, A Ting Wang, Lauren Pepa, et al.
(2012).
Intranasal oxytocin versus placebo in the treatment of adults with autism spectrum disorders: a randomized controlled trial.
Molecular Autism, 3(1), 16.
Springer Science and Business Media LLC.
- Publication date
-
2012
- Identifier
-
10.1186/2040-2392-3-16
- Authors
-
Evdokia Anagnostou,
Latha Soorya,
William Chaplin,
Jennifer Bartz,
Danielle Halpern,
Stacey Wasserman,
A Ting Wang,
Lauren Pepa,
Nadia Tanel,
Azadeh Kushki,
Eric Hollander
- Source
- Molecular Autism
- Details
- 3(1), 16
- Reference type
- article
- Publisher
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC
- Metadata source
- crossref
Abstract
BACKGROUND: There are no effective medications for the treatment of social cognition/function deficits in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and adult intervention literature in this area is sparse. Emerging data from animal models and genetic association studies as well as early, single-dose intervention studies suggest that the oxytocin system may be a potential therapeutic target for social cognition/function deficits in ASD. The primary aim of this study was to examine the safety/therapeutic effects of intranasal oxytocin versus placebo in adults with ASD, with respect to the two core symptom domains of social cognition/functioning and repetitive behaviors. METHODS: This was a pilot, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel design trial of intranasal oxytocin versus placebo in 19 adults with ASD (16 males; 33.20 ± 13.29 years). Subjects were randomized to 24 IU intranasal oxytocin or placebo in the morning and afternoon for 6 weeks. Measures of social function/cognition (the Diagnostic Analysis of Nonverbal Accuracy) and repetitive behaviors (Repetitive Behavior Scale Revised) were administered. Secondary measures included the Social Responsiveness Scale, Reading-the-Mind-in-the-Eyes Test and the Yale Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale - compulsion subscale and quality of life (World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire - emotional/social subscales). Full-information maximum-likelihood parameter estimates were obtained and tested using mixed-effects regression analyses. RESULTS: Although no significant changes were detected in the primary outcome measures after correcting for baseline differences, results suggested improvements after 6 weeks in measures of social cognition (Reading-the-Mind-in-the-Eyes Test, p = 0.002, d = 1.2), and quality of life (World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire - emotion, p = 0.031, d = 0.84), both secondary measures. Oxytocin was well tolerated and no serious adverse effects were reported. CONCLUSIONS: This pilot study suggests that there is therapeutic potential to daily administration of intranasal oxytocin in adults with ASD and that larger and longer studies are warranted. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT00490802.
Study authors in this cited reference