Editor's Choice Main Category: Autism Also Included In: Pediatrics / Children's Health;Psychology / Psychiatry Article Date: 04 Jun 2012 - 10:00 PDT

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The pilot trial, conducted by researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital, involved 31 children aged 3 to 12 years with autism. The study is published in Biological Psychiatry.

The researchers found that NAC reduced irritability and repetitive behaviors of the children. However, before NAC can be recommended for children with autism, larger trials are needed in order to verify results from the pilot trial.

Between 60-70% of children with the disorder suffer from irritability. Antonio Hardan, M.D., an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford and director of the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Clinic at Packard Children's explained:

One of the top priorities for researchers is to find new medications to treat autism and its symptoms. At present, aggression, irritability, and mood swings are all associated features of the disorder and are treated with second-generation antipsychotics.

However, these medications cause serious adverse effects including:

Another major problem of autism is the state of drug treatments for its core features, such as repetitive behaviors, social deficits, and language impairment. Hardan said: "Today, in 2012, we have no effective medication to treat repetitive behavior such as hand flapping or any other core features of autism."

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Antioxidant May Reduce Irritability In Kids With Autism