Autism

Autism

Autism is a disorder of neural development, typified by difficulties with social interaction, communication and restricted, repetitive patterns of behaviour and interests. The outward signs of autism can vary greatly between individuals, but they all tend to appear during infancy or early childhood, and continue into adulthood.

While ethnicity, race, and socioeconomic status do not appear to affect the likelihood of autism in a child, boys have been found to be at considerably higher risk for autism than girls.

Efficacy of Alternative and Other Treatments According to GRADE* Ranking:

Vitamin D [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10]:

Please note, this management does NOT treat the condition itself. It may mildly help in preventing some of the symptoms, and even then has insufficient evidence to back up this claim at present. Please note, this acts as a PREVENTATIVE treatment, and not necessarily symptomatic relief.

Recommendation: No recommendation (There is insufficient evidence to support claims that Vitamin D can help to prevent autism)

Grade of Evidence: Very low quality of evidence

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT):

NOT RECOMENDED

Recommendation: Strongly against (available evidence shows that HBOT is in no way useful in treating Autism, and can have harmful effects. NOT RECOMENDED)

Grade of Evidence: Moderate quality of evidence

Music Therapy [11, 12, 13, 14]:

Recommendation: Weakly in favor (Studies show that music therapy may be beneficial to those that have autism, particularly children)

Grade of Evidence: Low level of evidence

* www.gradeworkinggroup.org

Summary References

Treatments:

1. http://www.cancer.org/Treatment/TreatmentsandSideEffects/ComplementaryandAlternativeMedicine/HerbsVitaminsandMinerals/vitamin-d

2. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/o/cochrane/clsysrev/articles/CD006164/frame.html

3. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10824056

4. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jcb.10338/abstract

5. http://pain-topics.org/pdf/vitamind-report.pdf

6. http://informahealthcare.com/doi/abs/10.1185/030079908X253519

7. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/article756975.ece

8. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17556697

9. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18065602

10. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/vitamind.html

11. http://jmt.oxfordjournals.org/content/41/2/90.short

12. https://autismsciencefoundation.wordpress.com/2013/08/30/music-therapy-may-help-children-with-autism/

13. http://www.coastmusictherapy.com/how-music-helps/autism-research/

14. http://www.ebp-slp.com/pdfs/music-therapy/EmotionalandMotivational-MT.pdf

Public Discussion