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A systematic review of secretin for children with autism spectrum disorders
Shanthi Krishnaswami1, Melissa L McPheeters, Jeremy Veenstra-Vanderweele
12525 West End Ave, Suite 600, 6th Floor, Nashville, TN 37203-1738, USA. melissa.mcpheeters@vanderbilt.edu
Insights
Secretin treatment shows no benefit for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Multiple studies found no significant improvements in language, social skills, or overall symptom severity compared to placebo.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Neurology
- Developmental Psychology
- Clinical Pharmacology
Background:
- Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) affects approximately 1 in 110 children in the U.S.
- Secretin is a medical treatment explored for ASD symptoms, but its efficacy remains debated.
- A consensus on the most effective interventions for ASD is lacking.
Purpose of the Study:
- To systematically review the evidence on secretin's use in children aged 12 and younger with ASD.
- To evaluate the effectiveness of secretin in treating core ASD symptoms.
Main Methods:
- Searched Medline, PsycINFO, and ERIC databases (2000-2010) and article reference lists.
- Two independent reviewers assessed study eligibility and extracted data.
- Assessed study quality and strength of evidence using predefined criteria.
Main Results:
- Seven randomized controlled trials (RCTs) found secretin ineffective for ASD symptoms.
- No significant improvements in language, cognition, or autistic symptoms were observed compared to placebo.
- Reported improvements over time were similar in both secretin and placebo groups.
Conclusions:
- Extensive RCT evidence indicates secretin offers no benefit for ASD symptoms.
- Studies consistently show secretin has no significant impact on treating autism.
- Further research on secretin for ASD is not warranted due to a high strength of evidence for its lack of effectiveness.
Context:
As many as 1 in every 110 children in the United States has an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Secretin is 1 of many medical treatments studied for treating the symptoms of ASDs, but there is currently no consensus regarding which interventions are most effective.
Objective:
To systematically review evidence regarding the use of secretin in children with ASDs who are aged 12 years and younger.
Methods:
We searched the Medline, PsycINFO, and ERIC (Education Resources Information Center) databases from 2000 to May 2010 and reference lists of included articles. Two reviewers independently assessed each study against predetermined inclusion/exclusion criteria. Two reviewers independently extracted data regarding participant and intervention characteristics, assessment techniques, and outcomes and assigned overall quality and strength-of-evidence ratings on the basis of predetermined criteria.
Results:
Evidence from 7 randomized controlled trials supports a lack of effectiveness of secretin for the treatment of ASD symptoms including language and communication impairment, symptom severity, and cognitive and social skill deficits. No studies have resulted in significantly greater improvements in measures of language, cognition, or autistic symptoms when compared with placebo; study authors who reported improvement over time did so equally for both the intervention and placebo groups.
Conclusions:
Secretin has been studied extensively in multiple randomized controlled trials, and there is clear evidence that it lacks benefit. The studies of secretin included in this review uniformly point to a lack of significant impact of secretin in the treatment of ASD symptoms. Given the high strength of evidence for a lack of effectiveness, secretin as a treatment approach for ASDs warrants no further study.
