Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0004352 (autism)
 32,579 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Autism is a disorder characterised by abnormalities in language and social development, and repetitive behaviours. Antipsychotics, including haloperidol and risperidone, are the most widely studied drugs for reducing symptoms in children and adolescents with autism. When administered at relatively low dosages, antipsychotics have been shown to reduce repetitive behaviours (stereotypies) and social withdrawal, as well as a number of related symptoms, such as hyperactivity, aggression, self-abusive behaviour, temper tantrums, lability of mood and irritability. Adverse effects of antipsychotics include sedation, dizziness, increased appetite, weight gain, changes in the electrocardiogram parameters, drooling, hyperprolactinemia and a risk of drug-related dyskinesias. Other agents have been less well studied for the treatment of autism, but there are suggestive data regarding their safety and efficacy. Of these agents, a number have been investigated, based on theories about the aetiology of autism, including SSRIs and naltrexone, although the efficacy of these agents has been limited. Stimulant drugs have been shown to reduce hyperactivity and improve focus, but they may cause behavioural worsening, weight loss and stereotypies de novo. Secretin is a treatment that has received much media attention after reports of efficacy from small open studies, but all controlled studies have failed to show any benefit. In autism, alternative treatments have also been used, but none have shown benefit in well-designed studies.
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PMID:Advances in drug treatments for children and adolescents with autism and other pervasive developmental disorders. 1626 64

Objective: As a treatment for cases of developmental disorder accompanied with epilepsy, the author examined the efficacy and tolerability of combined administration of levetiracetam (LEV) on the cases. Methods: There were 21 participants (male-to-female-ratio was 16 to 5, 6 in their 10s, 7 in their 20s, 7 in their 30s and 1 in their 40s) to whom LEV was prescribed from October 2011 to December 2014. The effect was classified as loss of seizure, effective (more than 75% reduction in the number of seizures, more than 50% reduction in the number of seizures), unchanged (no change), and aggravation (increase in the number of seizures). Results: The study included 19 autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) cases (13 with profound intellectual disability, 5 with severe intellectual disability, and 1 with high functioning autism), 1 borderline intelligence case, and 1 attention deficit/hyper activity disorder (AD/HD) case. By classification of epilepsy seizure, there were 15 symptomatic localization-related epilepsy cases and 6 generalized epilepsy cases. The initial dose of LEV was an average of 488.1 mg/day, and the maintenance dose was an average of 1,714.2 mg/day. The average duration of administration was 2 years and 3 months. In terms of the response rate, there were 11 cases of loss of seizure (52.4%), 4 cases of more than 75% reduction in the number of seizures, (19.0%), and 3 cases of more than 50% reduction in the number of seizures (14.3%). The overall response rate was 85.7% (18 cases). 14.3% was unchanged (3 cases). No aggravation case was observed. There was only one case of dizziness in the initial period, but all cases continued taking LEV. The kinds of anticonvulsant agent could be adjusted from 2.5 at the beginning of LEV administration to 1.5. Emotional stability was also observed. Some cases could stop taking tranquilizers. Conclusions: LEV showed high response rate and tolerability on the cases of ASD and other developmental disorder accompanied with epilepsy. Administration of this drug led to reduction in the number of concomitant medications, which indicates the possibility that LEV may contribute to enhancing compliance.
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PMID:Experience with levetiracetam to epilepsy cases in neurodevelopmental disorders. 3001 Mar 7