MELBOURNE, Fla., March 12 (UPI) -- A U.S. controlled trial of hyperbaric treatments for children with autism has determined such treatments can improve the patients' conditions.
Hyperbaric therapy traditionally involves inhaling up to 100 percent oxygen at a pressure greater than 1 atmosphere in a pressurized chamber. In the first randomized, controlled, double-blind multi-center trial, Dr. Dan Rossignol of the International Child Development Resource Center and colleagues from six U.S. centers, studied 62 children ages 2-7 years to assess the efficacy of hyperbaric treatment for children with autism.
The children were randomly assigned to either 40 hours of hyperbaric treatment or slightly pressurized room air.
The study determined children with autism in the treatment group had significant improvements in overall functioning, receptive language, social interaction, eye contact and sensory/cognitive awareness compared with children in the non-treatment group.
The research, the first controlled trial to report such clinical improvements, appears in the journal BMC Pediatrics.
