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Study Shows Secretin Fails To Benefit Children With Autism

Date:
December 9, 1999
Source:
NIH/National Institute Of Child Health And Human Development
Summary:
The first of a number of studies sponsored by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) has shown that treatment with a synthetic version of the hormone secretin offered no more benefit for children with autism than did treatment with a placebo.
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The first of a number of studies sponsored by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) has shown that treatment with a synthetic version of the hormone secretin offered no more benefit for children with autism than did treatment with a placebo.

The study, which appears in the December 9 New England Journal of Medicine, was led by James W. Bodfish, Ph.D, of the Western Carolina Center and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Dr. Adrian D. Sandler, M.D., of the Center for Child Development at Thoms Rehabilitation Hospital, in Asheville, North Carolina.

"These are the first public results of an intensive NICHD effort to investigate the use of secretin in the treatment of autism," said Duane Alexander, M.D., director of the NICHD. "These findings strongly suggest that secretin should not be recommended to treat autism until the results of our other ongoing studies are known."

Secretin is a hormone produced by a part of the intestine called the duodenum. The hormone acts upon the pancreas, to assist in digestion. Beginning last year, various media accounts described how a three-year-old boy with autism and symptoms of digestive disorders improved dramatically within a week after administration of secretin during a medical procedure. Despite the apparent promise of the hormone, however, little scientific evidence exists to show whether secretin is a safe and effective treatment for autism.

As a result of the publicity about the boy's experience, prices for secretin skyrocketed. According to a few accounts, some of the sales were fraudulent, with laboratory tests showing that some parents had purchased preparations containing no secretin at all. No precise statistics exist, but many experts believe thousands of children have received the hormone. Anecdotal reports of the hormone's success vary. Some parents reported that their children improved dramatically, other parents saw no effect at all, and a few others report that their children's symptoms worsened. Because of these reports, the NICHD quickly funded a number of clinical studies to determine the possible use of secretin as a treatment for autism.

In all, 56 children with autistic disorders took part in the study. Of these, 28 received a single intravenous dose of synthetic human secretin. The remaining children were injected with a harmless salt (saline) solution. The researchers administered a battery of behavioral tests to the children at intervals of one day, one week, and 4 weeks after the treatment.

For each of the 16 measures of the children's behavior, the secretin treatment did not result in any more statistically significant improvements in behavior than did treatment with the placebo. Improvements were seen on six of the behavioral measures, but again, these improvements did not differ significantly from the placebo group.

Drs. Bodfish and Sandler noted, however, that the study had several limitations. Because the study was only four weeks' duration, it could not detect any improvements that might have occurred over a longer period of time. Also, study participants received only one injection of secretin, and it is possible that more than 1 injection would be required before any effects were noticeable.


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Materials provided by NIH/National Institute Of Child Health And Human Development. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Cite This Page:

NIH/National Institute Of Child Health And Human Development. "Study Shows Secretin Fails To Benefit Children With Autism." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 9 December 1999. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/12/991209044136.htm>.
NIH/National Institute Of Child Health And Human Development. (1999, December 9). Study Shows Secretin Fails To Benefit Children With Autism. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/12/991209044136.htm
NIH/National Institute Of Child Health And Human Development. "Study Shows Secretin Fails To Benefit Children With Autism." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/12/991209044136.htm (accessed March 28, 2024).

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