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Study · Systematic review · 2023

4 results

Oxytocin treatment for core symptoms in children with autism spectrum disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Hu L, Du X, Jiang Z, Song C, Liu D

European journal of clinical pharmacology4 Aug 2023Cited by 10 (Europe PMC)

PMID37540265 (opens in a new tab)DOI10.1007/s00228-023-03545-w (opens in a new tab)PepBankPUB-37540265
Publisher pagePubMedAsk about this study
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Summary

The text of this summary is not shown here, because the article license does not allow reuse. Read it at the source (opens in a new tab)

Text rights: Publisher copyright. Results still quote short attributed sentences.

Results from this study4

4 results from studies that gave the peptide. 4 results from people.

  1. 01HumanSystematic reviewEfficacy outcome

    In children with autism spectrum disorder, one included randomized trial found a statistically significant improvement in Social Responsiveness Scale scores with oxytocin.

    In plain wordsIn children with autism, one trial found that oxytocin improved social responsiveness scores compared with placebo.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    DecreaseSocial Responsiveness Scale score (one included RCT)
    Study

    n: not reported in source

    Comparator
    Placebo
    Outcome group
    Autism core symptoms · Mental health and mood
    Studied dose
    24 IU/2 days · 6 weeksAs given in this study (human).

    Source sentences

    Summary
    One of the included studies demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) and Repetitive Behavior Scale-Revised (RBS) scores when children with ASD were treated with oxytocin (24 IU/2 days for 6 weeks).
    1 context sentence
    Summary · context
    Standard screening rules were applied to select relevant studies, resulting in the inclusion of five RCTs involving 486 children with ASD.
  2. 02HumanSystematic reviewEfficacy outcome

    In children with autism spectrum disorder, one included randomized trial found a statistically significant improvement in Repetitive Behavior Scale-Revised scores with oxytocin.

    In plain wordsIn children with autism, one trial found that oxytocin improved repetitive behavior scores compared with placebo.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    DecreaseRepetitive Behavior Scale-Revised score (one included RCT)
    Study

    n: not reported in source

    Comparator
    Placebo
    Outcome group
    Autism core symptoms · Mental health and mood
    Studied dose
    24 IU/2 days · 6 weeksAs given in this study (human).

    Source sentences

    Summary
    One of the included studies demonstrated a statistically significant improvement in Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS) and Repetitive Behavior Scale-Revised (RBS) scores when children with ASD were treated with oxytocin (24 IU/2 days for 6 weeks).
    1 context sentence
    Summary · context
    Standard screening rules were applied to select relevant studies, resulting in the inclusion of five RCTs involving 486 children with ASD.
  3. 03HumanSystematic reviewEfficacy outcome

    In children with autism spectrum disorder, the improvement in core symptoms with oxytocin in one included trial persisted at the 6-month follow-up.

    In plain wordsIn children with autism, the improvement seen with oxytocin in one trial lasted to the 6-month follow-up.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    DecreaseCore symptom improvement at 6-month follow-up (one included RCT)
    Study

    n: not reported in source

    Comparator
    Placebo
    Outcome group
    Autism core symptoms · Mental health and mood
    Studied dose
    Dose not stated

    Source sentences

    Summary
    The improvement in core symptoms persisted at the 6-month follow-up.
    1 context sentence
    Summary · context
    Standard screening rules were applied to select relevant studies, resulting in the inclusion of five RCTs involving 486 children with ASD.
  4. 04HumanSystematic reviewEfficacy outcome

    In children with autism spectrum disorder, a meta-analysis of randomized trials suggested that oxytocin might have a moderate effect in improving narrow interests and repetitive stereotyped behaviors.

    In plain wordsIn children with autism, pooled trials suggested oxytocin might moderately improve narrow interests and repetitive behaviors compared with placebo.

    Peptide
    Oxytocin
    Outcome
    DecreaseNarrow interests and repetitive stereotyped behaviors (meta-analysis)
    Study

    n: not reported in source

    Comparator
    Placebo
    Outcome group
    Autism core symptoms · Mental health and mood
    Studied dose
    Dose not stated

    Source sentences

    Summary
    The meta-analysis findings suggested that oxytocin might have a moderate effect in improving the core symptom of narrow interests and repetitive stereotyped behaviors in children with ASD.
    1 context sentence
    Summary · context
    Standard screening rules were applied to select relevant studies, resulting in the inclusion of five RCTs involving 486 children with ASD.

AI wrote and checked these results. AI can make mistakes, so check important results against the source.

Version history

PepBank keeps every version of the data on this study. Status changes from Retraction Watch, Europe PMC and Crossref are listed with their source.

  1. Version 2Current

    11 Oct 2026, 00:50 UTC

    Study results updated

  2. Version 1

    9 Oct 2026, 02:48 UTC

    First added · source update from Europe PMC

Subjects

Terms as the source lists them.

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