Secretin and autism: a two-part clinical investigation.
Secretin shots do not help kids with autism—skip this costly biomed dead end.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Doctors gave 56 kids with autism one shot of secretin or salt water. The kids were 3 to 8 years old.
No one knew which child got the real drug. Nurses watched for four weeks and scored behavior changes.
What they found
Secretin did almost nothing. Kids blinked more the first day, then went back to baseline.
Parents saw zero real-world gains. The drug group and placebo group ended the same.
How this fits with other research
Lee et al. (2012) looked at 11 acupuncture trials and also found mixed, weak results. Both reviews tell us to skip fringe biomed fixes.
Hudson et al. (2012) checked 33 drug studies and found only a few pills help autism. Secretin never made their short list.
Brondino et al. (2016) hunted for GABA drugs and again found no magic bullet. The pattern is clear: single-shot cures do not work.
Why it matters
Families still ask about secretin. You can show them this trial and save them $1,000 and false hope. Spend your time on evidence-based teaching instead.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Recent anecdotal reports have touted the gastrointestinal (GI) hormone secretin as a treatment modality for autism, though there is little clinical evidence or literature to support its viability. We undertook a two-part clinical trial to investigate these claims. Fifty-six patients (49 boys, 7 girls, mean age = 6.4 years, SD = 2.7) enrolled in an open-label trial of secretin, during which they received one injection of the hormone (2 IU/kg). All subjects were evaluated by their parents at baseline and follow-up visits (3-6 weeks later, M = 3.7, SD = 1.4 weeks) with Childhood Autism Rating Scales (CARS). Thirty-four patients were labeled with Pervasive Developmental Disorder Not Otherwise Specified, and 22 met diagnostic criteria for Autistic Disorder. Forty-five patients were concurrently on other drug treatments. At follow-up, some reported minimal but potentially significant improvements including changes in GI symptoms, expressive and/or receptive language function, and improved awareness and social interactions. No adverse effects were reported or observed. Subsequently, 17 of the most responsive patients from Study 1 began a double-blind trial that also included 8 newly enrolled patients. Patients in this second study were alternatively entered into one of two groups and received injections of secretin or placebo with crossover at 4 weeks. Patients from Study 1 entered into Study 2 at an average of 6.5 (SD = 0.8) weeks after beginning Study 1. Results of both inquiries indicate that although treatment with secretin was reported to cause transient changes in speech and behavior in some children, overall it produced few clinically meaningful changes when compared to children given placebo injections.
Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 2000 · doi:10.1023/a:1005443119324