Intranasal oxytocin ineffective for autism in what may be largest trial to date

Abstract

An intranasal form of the hormone oxytocin is no more effective than placebo at increasing social behaviors in autistic children, according to what may be the largest clinical trial of the treatment to date. The results were published today in The New England Journal of Medicine.Because of oxytocin's role in strengthening social bonds, researchers have considered it as a candidate treatment for autism for more than a decade. Small trials hinted that the hormone could improve social skills in some autistic people, such as those with low blood levels of oxytocin or infants with Prader-Willi syndrome, an autism-related condition. But the new results, based on 250 autistic children, suggest that "oxytocin, at least in its current form, is probably not helpful for the majority of kids with autism," says Evdokia Anagnostou, professor of pediatrics at University of Toronto in Canada, who was not involved in the new work.