Efficacy of Memantine as Adjunct Therapy for Autism Spectrum Disorder in Children Aged

Karahmadi, Mojgan; Javad Tarrahi, Mohammad; Vatankhah Ardestani, Samaneh Sadat; Omranifard, Victoria; Farzaneh, Behdad

Efficacy of Memantine as Adjunct Therapy for Autism Spectrum Disorder in Children Aged <14 Years

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

² Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Faculty of Health, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran

³ Department of Psychiatry, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

⁴ Department of Emergency Medicine, School of Medicine, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran

Abstract

Background: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder with a recent increase in prevalence. A timely appropriate treatment for the disorder may play a crucial role in improvements in behaviors, interactions, and communications in an individual's life. It appears that evaluation of therapeutic approaches to the patients is essential and of importance. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of memantine as adjunct therapy in children with ASD. Materials and Methods: This randomized single-blind clinical trial included 60 children with ASD aged <14. The children undergoing applied behavior analysis (ABA) were divided into two groups of placebo and memantine (5 mg/day: a half of tablet in the morning and a half in the evening). After a 3-month course, improvements in symptoms of ASD were evaluated in both groups based on Gilliam autism rating scale. The collected data were analyzed with SPSS (version 20) using independent samples t-test, paired samples t-test, Chi-squared test and Fisher's exact test. Results: Both groups were similar in baseline characteristics including age, gender, and ASD symptoms (P > 0.05) but post intervention, total scores of ASD symptoms in both groups of memantine (mean score₁ =95.20 ± 14.49; mean score₂=73.50 ± 9.81) and control group (mean score_before = 91.50 ± 14.35; mean score_after = 89.63 ± 13.95) showed a decrease which was only significant in intervention group (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Accordingly, memantine administration as adjunct therapy can be more effective in improvement of ASD symptoms in children than ABA alone. Thus, it can be considered as a new selective adjunct therapy.

Keywords

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