The pharmacological treatment of autistic spectrum disorders

An Open-label Trial of Risperidone and Fluoxetine in Children with Autistic Disorder

OBJECTIVE

Various studies have shown the effectiveness of risperidone and fluoxetine in the management of behavioral problems in autism.

AIM

The purpose of this study was to compare these two drugs in the management of behavioral problems in autism.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Forty children with autism were divided into 2 groups in a 16-week open trial that compared these two drugs. Parents rated the children using the Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC) and the Conners' Parent Rating Scale - Revised (CPRS-R). The author rated the children using the Children's Psychiatric Rating Scale and Clinical Global Impression (CGI) Scale.

RESULTS

The risperidone group showed significant improvement in areas like irritability and hyperactivity, while the fluoxetine group showed significant improvement in speech deviance, social withdrawal and stereotypy. When the two drugs were compared, fluoxetine showed greater improvement in stereotypy, while both drugs showed improvement on the general autism scale; and on anger, hyperactivity and irritability scales.

CONCLUSIONS

In this open trial, both drugs were well tolerated and appeared to be beneficial in the treatment of common behavioral problems in children with autism. Further controlled and double-blind studies in larger samples are warranted.

Psychopharmacologic interventions for repetitive behaviors in autism spectrum disorders

This article provides an overview of psychopharmacological treatments for repetitive behaviors in autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) in the context of current conceptualizations of this understudied core symptom domain. The available literature on the widely used selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), including fluvoxamine, fluoxetine, citalopram, escitalopram, and sertraline, are reviewed. In addition to SSRIs, research on effects of other pharmacologic interventions such as divalproex sodium, risperidone, and the neuropeptide oxytocin are presented. To date, data are mixed for interventions commonly prescribed in clinical practice and suggest several areas of investigation in advancing research on the medication management of repetitive behaviors.

An open-label trial of escitalopram in pervasive developmental disorders

OBJECTIVE

To assess the effect of escitalopram in the treatment of pervasive developmental disorders (PDDs).

METHOD

This 10-week study had a forced titration, open-label design. Twenty-eight subjects (mean age 125.1 +/- 33.5 months) with a PDD received escitalopram at a dose that increased weekly to a maximum dose of 20 mg as tolerated. The Aberrant Behavior Checklist-Community Version (ABC-CV) and the Clinical Global Impression scale (CGI) were used to assess outcome.

RESULTS

There was significant improvement in ABC-CV Irritability Subscale Scores (baseline mean 20.5 +/- 5.9 to final mean 10.9 +/- 7.2; p < or = .001) and in the other ABC-CV Subscales. Improvement on Clinical Global Improvement Scale severity rating was also significant (baseline mean 5.2 +/- 1.0 to final mean 4.6 +/- 1.2; p < or = .001). Twenty-five percent of the subjects responded at a dose less than 10 mg and did not tolerate the 10-mg dose, and an additional 36% responded at a dose greater than or equal to 10 mg. Final dose was unrelated to weight and only weakly correlated with age.

CONCLUSIONS

This open-label study found escitalopram to be useful in treating some difficulties common in PDDs. A wide variability in dose was found that could not be accounted for by weight and only partially by age. The study provides information useful for the design of double-blind, placebo-controlled studies of escitalopram in PDDs.