TY - JOUR
T1 - Traditional and non-traditional treatments for autism spectrum disorder with seizures
T2 - An on-line survey
AU - Frye, Richard E.
AU - Sreenivasula, Swapna
AU - Adams, James
N1 - Funding Information:
Dr. Richard E. Frye received his medical degree from Georgetown University. He completed his pediatric residency training at Jackson Memorial Hospital/ University of Miami and child neurology residency training at Children’s Hospital Boston/Harvard University. Following residency Dr. Frye completed concurrent fellowships, one in Behavioral Neurology and Learning Disabilities at Children’s Hospital Boston/Harvard University and another in Psychology at Boston University. Dr. Frye completed a Ph.D. in Physiology and Biophysics at Georgetown University and a M.S. in Biomedical Science and Biostatistics at Drexel University. Dr. Frye is board certified in Pediatrics and in Neurology with special competency in Child Neurology. Dr. Frye has been funded by the National Institutes of Health to study brain function in individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders. Dr. Frye is the medical-director of the University of Texas medically-based autism clinic. The purpose of this unique clinic is to diagnose and treat medical disorders associated with autism in order to optimize remediation and recovery. Swapna Sreenivasula is currently a graduate student in the School of Public Health at University of Texas. She completed a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (M.B.B.S.) at Rangaraya Medical College, Kakinada Andhra Pradesh, India. James B. Adams, Ph.D., is currently a President’s Professor and Program Chair of Materials Engineering at Arizona State University, and he directs the Autism/Asperger’s Research Program at Arizona State University. He created and teaches a course on Heavy Metal Toxicity, focused on lead and mercury toxicity. He co-leads the Science Advisory Committee of the Autism Research Institute. He is the father of a young woman with autism, and that is what led him to eventually shift much of his research emphasis to autism, focusing on biological causes and treatments.
PY - 2011/5/18
Y1 - 2011/5/18
N2 - Background: Despite the high prevalence of seizure, epilepsy and abnormal electroencephalograms in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), there is little information regarding the relative effectiveness of treatments for seizures in the ASD population. In order to determine the effectiveness of traditional and non-traditional treatments for improving seizures and influencing other clinical factor relevant to ASD, we developed a comprehensive on-line seizure survey.Methods: Announcements (by email and websites) by ASD support groups asked parents of children with ASD to complete the on-line surveys. Survey responders choose one of two surveys to complete: a survey about treatments for individuals with ASD and clinical or subclinical seizures or abnormal electroencephalograms, or a control survey for individuals with ASD without clinical or subclinical seizures or abnormal electroencephalograms. Survey responders rated the perceived effect of traditional antiepileptic drug (AED), non-AED seizure treatments and non-traditional ASD treatments on seizures and other clinical factors (sleep, communication, behavior, attention and mood), and listed up to three treatment side effects.Results: Responses were obtained concerning 733 children with seizures and 290 controls. In general, AEDs were perceived to improve seizures but worsened other clinical factors for children with clinical seizure. Valproic acid, lamotrigine, levetiracetam and ethosuximide were perceived to improve seizures the most and worsen other clinical factors the least out of all AEDs in children with clinical seizures. Traditional non-AED seizure and non-traditional treatments, as a group, were perceived to improve other clinical factors and seizures but the perceived improvement in seizures was significantly less than that reported for AEDs. Certain traditional non-AED treatments, particularly the ketogenic diet, were perceived to improve both seizures and other clinical factors.For ASD individuals with reported subclinical seizures, other clinical factors were reported to be worsened by AEDs and improved by non-AED traditional seizure and non-traditional treatments.The rate of side effects was reportedly higher for AEDs compared to traditional non-AED treatments.Conclusion: Although this survey-based method only provides information regarding parental perceptions of effectiveness, this information may be helpful for selecting seizure treatments in individuals with ASD.
AB - Background: Despite the high prevalence of seizure, epilepsy and abnormal electroencephalograms in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), there is little information regarding the relative effectiveness of treatments for seizures in the ASD population. In order to determine the effectiveness of traditional and non-traditional treatments for improving seizures and influencing other clinical factor relevant to ASD, we developed a comprehensive on-line seizure survey.Methods: Announcements (by email and websites) by ASD support groups asked parents of children with ASD to complete the on-line surveys. Survey responders choose one of two surveys to complete: a survey about treatments for individuals with ASD and clinical or subclinical seizures or abnormal electroencephalograms, or a control survey for individuals with ASD without clinical or subclinical seizures or abnormal electroencephalograms. Survey responders rated the perceived effect of traditional antiepileptic drug (AED), non-AED seizure treatments and non-traditional ASD treatments on seizures and other clinical factors (sleep, communication, behavior, attention and mood), and listed up to three treatment side effects.Results: Responses were obtained concerning 733 children with seizures and 290 controls. In general, AEDs were perceived to improve seizures but worsened other clinical factors for children with clinical seizure. Valproic acid, lamotrigine, levetiracetam and ethosuximide were perceived to improve seizures the most and worsen other clinical factors the least out of all AEDs in children with clinical seizures. Traditional non-AED seizure and non-traditional treatments, as a group, were perceived to improve other clinical factors and seizures but the perceived improvement in seizures was significantly less than that reported for AEDs. Certain traditional non-AED treatments, particularly the ketogenic diet, were perceived to improve both seizures and other clinical factors.For ASD individuals with reported subclinical seizures, other clinical factors were reported to be worsened by AEDs and improved by non-AED traditional seizure and non-traditional treatments.The rate of side effects was reportedly higher for AEDs compared to traditional non-AED treatments.Conclusion: Although this survey-based method only provides information regarding parental perceptions of effectiveness, this information may be helpful for selecting seizure treatments in individuals with ASD.
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U2 - 10.1186/1471-2431-11-37
DO - 10.1186/1471-2431-11-37
M3 - Article
C2 - 21592359
AN - SCOPUS:79955977714
SN - 1471-2431
VL - 11
JO - BMC Pediatrics
JF - BMC Pediatrics
M1 - 37
ER -