Acupuncture for Treatment of Autism Spectrum Disorders

Table 3

Prospective controlled clinical trials of acupuncture in autistic children with 50 or more subjects or Jadad score ≥2.

Study by reference^a	Number of subjects	Age (yrs)	Length of study	Group design^b	Jadad score	Outcome measures	Results
Wong et al. [43]	55	3–18	4 wks	EA versus SEA	5	WeeFIM, PEDI, Leiter-R, CGI-I, ABC, RFRLS, RDLS, parental report	Greater improvements of language, self-care and overall CGI-I scores, motor coordination, social skills, and attention span in EA group than these in SEA group (𝑃<0.006, 𝑃<0.01)
Zhang et al. [22]	30	2–12	4 mos	ACP versus herbs	3	Chinese version of IQ, social, language tests	Greater improvement in all the measures after treatment in ACP group than that of herbs group (𝑃<0.05, 𝑃<0.01)
Allam et al. [45]	20	4–7	9 mos	ACP + LT versus LT	3	Arabic language test	Both groups improved. Greater improvement in attention and receptive semantics in ACP + LT group (𝑃=0.008, 0.034, resp.)
Li et al. [41]	70	2–10	3 mos	ACP + BT + MT versus BT + MT	2	CARS, Clancy autism behavior scale, ABC, Gesell development scale	Significant improvement in all the measures before and after treatment in ACP + BT + MT group (𝑃<0.01). Better improvement in Gesell scale in ACP + BT + MT group (𝑃<0.05)
Wong and Sun [44]	50	3–11	8 wks	TAC versus sham	2	Griffiths mental developmental scale, WeeFIM, RFRLS, RDLS, symbolic play test	Improvements were documented in both groups, with the greater improvement in TCA group in some of the functional independence measures (𝑃<0.0005, 𝑃<0.006)
Zhang et al. [25]	30	? –12	4 mos	ACP versus herbs	2	Event-evoked potential P3 latency and amplitude	Shortened latency and increased amplitude in ACP groups only after treatment (𝑃<0.001, 𝑃<0.05). No change in herbs group
Yan et al. [30]	40	2.5–8	90 days	ACP + BT versus BT	2	C-PEP	Greater improvement in ACP + BT group than BT group (𝑃<0.01)
Liu and Yuan [32]	67	3–9	12 wks	ACP versus SIT	1	CARS and ABC	Greater improvement of both ABC and CARS in ACP group than that in SIT group (𝑃<0.05)
Wang et al. [31]	60	3–9	4 mos	EA versus BT	1	PPVT overall score and subscores	Greater improvements of overall score, subscores of sensation, association, body and self-care factors in EA group (86%) than those in BT group (56%) (𝑃<0.05)
Yuan et al. [16, 19, 24], Wu et al. [23]	202	1.5–8 yrs	4 mos	ACP versus BT	1	CARS (total and subscores)	88% of ACP group, 65% of BT group improved in CARS. ACP was effective across all age groups especially in more severe subjects, and in 3 of the 4 TCM syndromes. All CARS subscores except imitation and fine motor function were improved in both groups (𝑃<0.05, 𝑃<0.01)
Xie [26]	182	<3 or >3	4 mos	ACP + TCM versus BT	0	Intelligence tests (DQ, WPPSI, WISC-R), clinical improvement scales (operationally defined)	Greater improvement of DQ, WPPSI, and clinical symptoms in ACP + TCM group; greater clinical improvement in <3 yrs old in both treatment groups compared with those of >3 yrs (𝑃<0.05, 𝑃<0.01)

^aThe numbers in superscript are citation numbers corresponding to the numbers in reference section. ^bAll the subjects enrolled in any of the clinical trials were children with autism, both treatment and control groups. All studies in this table were prospective controlled trials.
Abbreviations in alphabetical order: ABC: aberrant behavioral checklist; ACP: acupuncture; BT: behavioral therapy; CARS: childhood autism rating scales; CGI-I: clinical global impression-improvement; C-PEP: Chinese version of psychoeducational profile; DQ: developmental quotient; EA: electroacupuncture; IQ: intelligent quotient; LT: language therapy; MT: music therapy; PEDI: pediatric evaluation development inventory; PPVT: Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test; RDLS: Reynell Developmental Language Scale; RFRLS: Ritvo-Freeman.
Real-life scale; SEA: sham electroacupuncture; SIT: sensory integration therapy; TAC: tongue acupuncture; TCM: traditional Chinese medicine; WeeFIM: functional independence measure for children; WISC-R: wechsler intelligence scale for children-revised; WPPSI: Wechsler preschool and primary scale of intelligence.