Palmitoylethanolamide as adjunctive therapy for autism: Efficacy and safety results from a randomized controlled trial
Randomised controlled trialHumans
- Design
- Randomised controlled trial
- Subjects
- 70 children aged 4 to 12 with autism and moderate to severe irritability
- Dose used in the study
- Palmitoylethanolamide added to the antipsychotic risperidone. The comparison group took placebo with risperidone. The dose was not visible on the page checked.
- Duration
- 10 weeks
- What was measured
- The Aberrant Behavior Checklist, which rates irritability, hyperactivity, inappropriate speech, social withdrawal and repetitive behaviour
What the authors reported
Irritability and hyperactivity improved more with palmitoylethanolamide added to risperidone than with risperidone alone (p = 0.001). The difference for inappropriate speech fell short of significance (p = 0.051), and there was no significant difference for social withdrawal or repetitive behaviour.
Limits of this study
All children also took risperidone, so the trial tested palmitoylethanolamide as an add-on, not alone. The study was in children, and nothing in it bears on unsupervised use. Adverse events and limitations were not visible on the page checked. It was funded by a grant from Tehran University of Medical Sciences.
Source
doi:10.1016/j.jpsychires.2018.04.022
Entry checked against the abstract page at the publisher (ScienceDirect) on 2026-09-21. The dose shown is the dose the researchers used. It is not a recommendation. How to read this page.