[SP4-3B-6] The Efficacy of Yokukansan for the Children of Autism Spectrum Disorder - Favorable Effects on Language
[Introductoion] Yokukansan(YKS) is a Japanese herbal medicine which is used for tantrum or cry at night of children. A part of the pharmacological function was revealed on glutaminergic and/or serotoninergic nerves (5-HT partial agonist etc), We tried YKS for the children of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and report here its efficacy.
[Methodology] The subjects were 50 cases of ASD diagnosed by DSM V criteria, male 35. female 15, from the age of 3.26 to 10.28 years (mean 5.90).12cases had IQ (DQ) over 100, 7 cases had moderate mental retardation and the rest 31 cases had IQ (DQ) between the former two groups. We gave YKS to 46 cases and Yokukansan-ka-chinpihange to 6 cases, from 0.09 to 0.25 g/kg/day, The age to start the therapy was from 2.54 to 8.02 (mean4.67) years old. We evaluated the efficacy from the appearance of favorable changes within 3 months. The total observation period is from 0.50 to 2.76 years.
[Results] In 2 cases, the therapy was stopped within several days because of the side effect of excitement. For the other 48 cases, YKS showed favorable effects; 1) improvement of communication (expression by words or phrases) 17/48 (35.4%), 2) decrease of tantrum 29 /31 (93.5%), 3) for hyperactivity 14/17 (82.4%), 4) for limited and/or obsessive interests or behaviors 9/34(26.5%), 5) for sleep disturbance 4/10 (40.0%). No cases showed loss of volition or will.
[Conclusions] YKS has favorable effects as a treatment for ASD children. Especially one third of children showed improvement of language expression.
[Methodology] The subjects were 50 cases of ASD diagnosed by DSM V criteria, male 35. female 15, from the age of 3.26 to 10.28 years (mean 5.90).12cases had IQ (DQ) over 100, 7 cases had moderate mental retardation and the rest 31 cases had IQ (DQ) between the former two groups. We gave YKS to 46 cases and Yokukansan-ka-chinpihange to 6 cases, from 0.09 to 0.25 g/kg/day, The age to start the therapy was from 2.54 to 8.02 (mean4.67) years old. We evaluated the efficacy from the appearance of favorable changes within 3 months. The total observation period is from 0.50 to 2.76 years.
[Results] In 2 cases, the therapy was stopped within several days because of the side effect of excitement. For the other 48 cases, YKS showed favorable effects; 1) improvement of communication (expression by words or phrases) 17/48 (35.4%), 2) decrease of tantrum 29 /31 (93.5%), 3) for hyperactivity 14/17 (82.4%), 4) for limited and/or obsessive interests or behaviors 9/34(26.5%), 5) for sleep disturbance 4/10 (40.0%). No cases showed loss of volition or will.
[Conclusions] YKS has favorable effects as a treatment for ASD children. Especially one third of children showed improvement of language expression.