The impact of COVID-19 on autism research: A cross-sectional analysis of discontinued or suspended clinical trials.
Pharma autism trials halted at six times the rate of behavioral trials during COVID-19, so prioritize remote-capable behavioral designs for future crises.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Neale et al. (2022) counted how many autism trials stopped during COVID-19. They looked at 197 registered studies and checked which ones were suddenly discontinued or paused.
The team split the trials into two buckets: drug trials and non-drug trials. Then they compared how often each group was shut down.
What they found
Drug trials were six times more likely to be cancelled than behavioral trials. Only 7.6 % of all autism studies were halted, but most of those were pharmacological.
Behavioral research mostly kept going, even when labs and clinics closed.
How this fits with other research
Arwert et al. (2020) first warned that COVID-19 would create big gaps in autism science. Monika et al. now give the hard numbers, showing drug studies took the biggest hit.
Martin et al. (2023) and Breider et al. (2024) prove behavioral work can survive crises. Martin’s team ran parent training over Zoom with full success. Breider found face-to-face parent training still beats waitlist, but blended online formats did not. Together these studies show behavioral methods can pivot to remote or hybrid models when needed.
Courreges et al. (2023) and Faught et al. (2021) show the human cost: families lost services and parents felt double the stress. Monika’s numbers help explain why—many drug trials, and their potential new meds, simply vanished.
Why it matters
If you design or supervise autism research, favor behavioral interventions that can move online or outdoors. Build remote fidelity checks, train parents by video, and collect data through apps. When the next crisis hits, your study—and the families waiting for help—can keep running.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Due to uncertainties associated with the COVID-19 public health crisis, several clinical trials had to be withdrawn or postponed. Our investigation aimed to assess the rate of discontinuation of clinical trials focusing on Autism Spectrum Disorder. Of the 197 registered trials included in our systematic review, 15 (7.6%) were discontinued, with nearly half of these explicitly citing COVID-19 as their reason for discontinuation. Pharmacological trials were six times more likely to be discontinued during the pandemic than non-pharmacological studies. The difference between the likelihood of discontinuation was statistically significant (OR: 6.13; 95% CI: 1.22-30.71). There was no evidence of association between funding source and reasons for discontinuation. Limitations, along with implications for future trials are discussed. LAY SUMMARY: We investigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the discontinuation rate of autism clinical trials. We found that drug trials were six times more likely to be discontinued during the pandemic compared to behavioral, diagnostic, and nutritional trials. The overall discontinuation rate was notably lower in autism clinical trials than in other areas of medical research. We recommend an examination of the methodology of the continued autism trials to assess their applicability in other fields.
Autism research : official journal of the International Society for Autism Research, 2022 · doi:10.1093/ptj/pzab053