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
The authors reported a larger improvement in irritability and in hyperactivity in the palmitoylethanolamide group than with risperidone alone (p = 0.001). The difference for inappropriate speech fell just short of significance (p = 0.051). They found 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.