PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
4-Aug-2014
Contact: Erin Digitale digitale@stanford.edu 650-724-9175 Stanford University Medical Center
Autism does not appear to be solely caused by a deficiency of oxytocin, but the hormone's universal ability to boost social function may prove useful in treating a subset of children with the developmental disorder, according to new findings from the Stanford University School of Medicine and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital Stanford.
Low levels of oxytocin, a hormone involved in social functioning, have for years been suspected of causing autism. Prior research seeking a link has produced mixed results. Now, in the largest-ever study to test the purported connection, the range of blood oxytocin levels has been shown to be the same in children with autism as that observed in two comparison groups: children with autistic siblings and children without autistic siblings. In other words, similar numbers of children with low, medium and high oxytocin levels were found in all three groups.
A paper describing the new findings will be published online Aug. 4 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Although autism was not directly linked to oxytocin deficiency, the Stanford team found that higher oxytocin levels were linked to better social functioning in all groups. All children with autism have social deficits, but in the study these deficits were worst in those with the lowest blood oxytocin and mildest in those with the highest oxytocin. In the comparison groups, children's social skills also fell across a range that correlated to their oxytocin levels.
"Oxytocin appears to be a universal regulator of social functioning in humans," said Karen Parker, PhD, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and the lead author of the study. "That encompasses both typically developing children as well as those with the severe social deficits we see in children with autism."
Autism is a developmental disorder that affects 1 of every 68 children in the United States. It is characterized by social and communication deficits, repetitive behaviors and sensory problems. The new study included 79 children with autism, 52 of their unaffected siblings and 62 unrelated children without autism. All of the children were between the ages of 3 and 12.
"It didn't matter if you were a typically developing child, a sibling or an individual with autism: Your social ability was related to a certain extent to your oxytocin levels, which is very different from what people have speculated," said Antonio Hardan, MD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and the study's senior author. Hardan is a child and adolescent psychiatrist who treats children with autism at the hospital.
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Blood-oxytocin levels in normal range in children with autism, study finds