Erratum to: Probiotic Therapy for Treating Behavioral and Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review of Clinical Trials

The number of trials aimed at evaluating treatments for autism spectrum disorder has been increasing progressively. However, it is not clear which outcome measures should be used to assess their efficacy, especially for treatments which target core symptoms. The present review aimed to provide a comprehensive overview regarding the outcome measures used in clinical trials for people with autism spectrum disorder. We systematically searched the Web of KnowledgeSM database between 1980 and 2016 to identify published controlled trials investigating the efficacy of interventions in autism spectrum disorder. We included 406 trials in the final database, from which a total of 327 outcome measures were identified. Only seven scales were used in more than 5% of the studies, among which only three measured core symptoms (Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule, Childhood Autism Rating Scale, and Social Responsiveness Scale). Of note, 69% of the tools were used in the literature only once. Our systematic review has shown that the evaluation of efficacy in intervention trials for autism spectrum disorder relies on heterogeneous and often non-specific tools for this condition. The fragmentation of tools may significantly hamper the comparisons between studies and thus the discovery of effective treatments for autism spectrum disorder. Greater consensus regarding the choice of these measures should be reached.

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Psychosocial Interventions for Employment of Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder: a Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials

Review Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders ◽

10.1007/s40489-021-00285-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yusuke Ogawa ◽

Osamu Itani ◽

Maki Jike ◽

Norio Watanabe

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Clinical Trials ◽

Randomized Clinical Trials ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Psychosocial Interventions ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorder

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Systematic Review: Distribution of Age and Intervention Modalities in Therapeutic Clinical Trials for Autism Spectrum Disorder

Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders ◽

10.1007/s10803-019-03942-0 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 50 (6) ◽

pp. 2208-2216 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Alan S. Lewis ◽

Gerrit Ian van Schalkwyk

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Clinical Trials ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorder

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Parent Education in Studies With Nonverbal and Minimally Verbal Participants With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review

American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology ◽

10.1044/2019_ajslp-19-00007 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 29 (2) ◽

pp. 890-902

Author(s):

Lynn Kern Koegel ◽

Katherine M. Bryan ◽

Pumpki Lei Su ◽

Mohini Vaidya ◽

Stephen Camarata

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Parent Education ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Verbal Communication ◽

Fidelity Of Implementation ◽

Spectrum Disorder ◽

Education Programs ◽

Minimally Verbal ◽

Parent Education Programs

Purpose The purpose of this systematic review was to identify parent education procedures implemented in intervention studies focused on expressive verbal communication for nonverbal (NV) or minimally verbal (MV) children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Parent education has been shown to be an essential component in the habilitation of individuals with ASD. Parents of individuals with ASD who are NV or MV may particularly benefit from parent education in order to provide opportunities for communication and to support their children across the life span. Method ProQuest databases were searched between the years of 1960 and 2018 to identify articles that targeted verbal communication in MV and NV individuals with ASD. A total of 1,231 were evaluated to assess whether parent education was implemented. We found 36 studies that included a parent education component. These were reviewed with regard to (a) the number of participants and participants' ages, (b) the parent education program provided, (c) the format of the parent education, (d) the duration of the parent education, (e) the measurement of parent education, and (f) the parent fidelity of implementation scores. Results The results of this analysis showed that very few studies have included a parent education component, descriptions of the parent education programs are unclear in most studies, and few studies have scored the parents' implementation of the intervention. Conclusions Currently, there is great variability in parent education programs in regard to participant age, hours provided, fidelity of implementation, format of parent education, and type of treatment used. Suggestions are made to provide both a more comprehensive description and consistent measurement of parent education programs.

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Herbal Medicine as an Alternative Treatment in Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review

Current Drug Metabolism ◽

10.2174/1389200219666171227202332 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 19 (5) ◽

pp. 454-459 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Francielly Mourao Gasparotto ◽

Francislaine Aparecida dos Reis Lívero ◽

Sara Emilia Lima Tolouei Menegati ◽

Arquimedes Gasparotto Junior

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Herbal Medicine ◽

Alternative Treatment ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorder

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New Strategies for Clinical Trials in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Reviews on Recent Clinical Trials ◽

10.2174/1574887115666201120093634 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 15 ◽

Author(s):

Rini Pauly ◽

Catherine A. Ziats ◽

Ludovico Abenavoli ◽

Charles E. Schwartz ◽

Luigi Boccuto

Keyword(s):

Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽

Clinical Trials ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Spectrum Disorder ◽

Genetic Profiling ◽

Omics Technologies ◽

Molecular Abnormalities ◽

Sequencing Technologies ◽

Linear Relationships ◽

Personalized Approach

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a complex neurodevelopmental condition that poses several challenges in terms of clinical diagnosis and investigation of molecular etiology. The lack of knowledge on the pathogenic mechanisms underlying ASD has hampered the clinical trials that so far have tried to target ASD behavioral symptoms. In order to improve our understanding of the molecular abnormalities associated with ASD, a deeper and more extensive genetic profiling of targeted individuals with ASD was needed. Methods: The recent availability of new and more powerful sequencing technologies (third-generation sequencing) has allowed to develop novel strategies for characterization of comprehensive genetic profiles of individuals with ASD. In particular, this review will describe integrated approaches based on the combination of various omics technologies that will lead to a better stratification of targeted cohorts for the design of clinical trials in ASD. Results: In order to analyze the big data collected by assays such as whole genome, epigenome, transcriptome, and proteome, it is critical to develop an efficient computational infrastructure. Machine learning models are instrumental to identify non-linear relationships between the omics technologies and therefore establish a functional informative network among the different data sources. Conclusion: The potential advantage provided by these new integrated omics-based strategies is to better characterize the genetic background of ASD cohorts, identify novel molecular targets for drug development, and ultimately offer a more personalized approach in the design of clinical trials for ASD.

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