ArticlePediatric research2021
Vitamin A deficiency increases the risk of gastrointestinal comorbidity and exacerbates core symptoms in children with autism spectrum disorder.
Article in Pediatric research, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 41 citations in OpenAlex.
- Autism Spectrum Disorders and Purinergic Signaling: A Systematic Review of Emerging Insights from Preclinical Studies.Journal of molecular neuroscience : MN · 2026Pooled it
- Nutritional Status of Children Diagnosed With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of human nutrition and dietetics : the official journal of the British Dietetic Association · 2025Pooled it
- Isolation and characterization of a novel exopolysaccharide from the fermented probioticFrontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Digestive Neurobiology in Autism: From Enteric and Central Nervous System Interactions to Shared Genetic Pathways.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Gastrointestinal health and nutritional strategies in autism spectrum disorder.Journal of gastroenterology · 2025Review
- The association of vitamin A, zinc and copper levels with clinical symptoms in children with autism spectrum disorders in Jilin Province, China.BMC pediatrics · 2023Article
- Gut microbiota and Autism Spectrum Disorder: From pathogenesis to potential therapeutic perspectives.Journal of traditional and complementary medicine · 2023Review
- Questionnaire-based analysis of autism spectrum disorders and gastrointestinal symptoms in children and adolescents: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2023Review
- Shared and divergent contribution of vitamin A and oxytocin to the aetiology of autism spectrum disorder.Computational and structural biotechnology journal · 2023Article
- Involvement of retinoic acid receptor α in the autistic-like behavior of rats with vitamin A deficiency by regulating neurexin 1 in the visual cortex: a mechanism study.Zhongguo dang dai er ke za zhi = Chinese journal of contemporary pediatrics · 2022Article
- Cell-autonomous retinoic acid receptor signaling has stage-specific effects on mouse enteric nervous system.JCI insight · 2021Article
- An investigation of the diet, exercise, sleep, BMI, and health outcomes of autistic adults.Molecular autism · 2021Article
- Autism Spectrum Disorder: Signaling Pathways and Prospective Therapeutic Targets.Cellular and molecular neurobiology · 2021Review
- Review
- Research Progress in Vitamin A and Autism Spectrum Disorder.Behavioural neurology · 2021Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAutism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder, and many individuals with ASD have gastrointestinal (GI) comorbidities. Vitamin A (VA) is an essential micronutrient that plays an important role in brain development and GI function.
methodsA total of 323 children with ASD and 180 control children were enrolled in this study. Symptoms of ASD were assessed with the Child Autism Rating Scale (CARS), the Social Responsiveness Scale (SRS), and the Autism Behavior Checklist (ABC). Caregivers of the children completed questionnaires about GI symptoms. Serum retinol levels were detected with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).
resultsChildren with ASD and with GI comorbidity and constipation had considerably lower serum VA levels than autistic children without these symptoms. VA level was associated with CARS, SRS, and ABC scores, whereas GI symptoms were associated some SRS and ABC scores. The interaction of VAD and GI symptoms appeared to aggravate some of the core symptoms of children with ASD.
conclusionsVAD exacerbates core symptoms in children with ASD, and ASD children with GI comorbidities also have more serious core symptoms than ASD children without GI comorbidities. VAD comorbid with GI symptoms aggravates autistic children's core symptoms. IMPACT: VAD exacerbates core symptoms in children with ASD. ASD children with GI comorbidities have more serious core symptoms than ASD children without GI comorbidities. VAD comorbid with GI symptoms aggravates autistic children's core symptoms. We speculate that VAD might be related to a subtype of ASD that involves GI comorbidities. We believe that our findings will be of fundamental importance to the scientific community.
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