ArticleCanadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien2022
Oxytocin for the treatment of autism spectrum disorder in children.
Article in Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 5 citations in OpenAlex.
- Endogenous oxytocin-linked heart-rate synchrony and social connection during live sports spectatorship.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- Medical treatment of autism spectrum disorder in children: Current evidence, controversies, and clinical challenges.World journal of clinical pediatrics · 2026Article
- Salivary Oxytocin and Socio-Emotional Functioning in Children and Adolescents With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder.Neuropsychopharmacology reports · 2026Article
- Preliminary Data Regarding the Potential of Oxytocin to Modulate Aggressive Behaviour in a VPA-Based Animal Model of Autism Spectrum Disorder.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
questionSeveral parents have recently asked me if oxytocin would be helpful for treating their children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). What do we currently know about the use of oxytocin for the treatment of children with ASD? ANSWER: Autism spectrum disorder is prevalent among children in Canada, with most affected children experiencing difficulties with social function. Behavioural and educational interventions are the first-line treatments for children with ASD. Multiple studies of oxytocin in children with ASD from the past 2 decades provide equivocal results related to social functioning, and a recent large study did not show benefit from treatment with oxytocin. Small sample sizes and differences in participant age, oxytocin formulation and dose, treatment duration, outcome measures, and analytic methods may help explain some of these disparities. The fact that ASD has a range of clinical presentations may also contribute to mixed results. The use of oxytocin has limited benefit in changing social function in children with ASD and there is no support for its current use in the treatment of this population.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.