TY - JOUR
T1 - Cognitive effects of risperidone in children with autism and irritable behavior
AU - Aman, Michael G.
AU - Hollway, Jill A.
AU - McDougle, Christopher J.
AU - Scahill, Lawrence
AU - Tierney, Elaine
AU - McCracken, James T.
AU - Arnold, L. Eugene
AU - Vitiello, Benedetto
AU - Ritz, Louise
AU - Gavaletz, Allison
AU - Cronin, Pegeen
AU - Swiezy, Naomi
AU - Wheeler, Courtney
AU - Koenig, Kathleen
AU - Ghuman, Jaswinder K.
AU - Posey, David J.
PY - 2008/6/1
Y1 - 2008/6/1
N2 - Objective: The objective of this research was to explore the effects of risperidone on cognitive processes in children with autism and irritable behavior. Method: Thirty-eight children, ages 5-17 years with autism and severe behavioral disturbance, were randomly assigned to risperidone (0.5 to 3.5 mg/day) or placebo for 8 weeks. This sample of 38 was a subset of 101 subjects who participated in the clinical trial; 63 were unable to perform the cognitive tasks. A double-blind placebo-controlled parallel groups design was used. Dependent measures included tests of sustained attention, verbal learning, hand-eye coordination, and spatial memory assessed before, during, and after the 8-week treatment. Changes in performance were compared by repeated measures ANOVA. Results: Twenty-nine boys and 9 girls with autism and severe behavioral disturbance and a mental age ≥18 months completed the cognitive part of the study. No decline in performance occurred with risperidone. Performance on a cancellation task (number of correct detections) and a verbal learning task (word recognition) was better on risperidone than on placebo (without correction for multiplicity). Equivocal improvement also occurred on a spatial memory task. There were no significant differences between treatment conditions on the Purdue Pegboard (hand-eye coordination) task or the Analog Classroom Task (timed math test). Conclusion: Risperidone given to children with autism at doses up to 3.5 mg for up to 8 weeks appears to have no detrimental effect on cognitive performance.
AB - Objective: The objective of this research was to explore the effects of risperidone on cognitive processes in children with autism and irritable behavior. Method: Thirty-eight children, ages 5-17 years with autism and severe behavioral disturbance, were randomly assigned to risperidone (0.5 to 3.5 mg/day) or placebo for 8 weeks. This sample of 38 was a subset of 101 subjects who participated in the clinical trial; 63 were unable to perform the cognitive tasks. A double-blind placebo-controlled parallel groups design was used. Dependent measures included tests of sustained attention, verbal learning, hand-eye coordination, and spatial memory assessed before, during, and after the 8-week treatment. Changes in performance were compared by repeated measures ANOVA. Results: Twenty-nine boys and 9 girls with autism and severe behavioral disturbance and a mental age ≥18 months completed the cognitive part of the study. No decline in performance occurred with risperidone. Performance on a cancellation task (number of correct detections) and a verbal learning task (word recognition) was better on risperidone than on placebo (without correction for multiplicity). Equivocal improvement also occurred on a spatial memory task. There were no significant differences between treatment conditions on the Purdue Pegboard (hand-eye coordination) task or the Analog Classroom Task (timed math test). Conclusion: Risperidone given to children with autism at doses up to 3.5 mg for up to 8 weeks appears to have no detrimental effect on cognitive performance.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=57749185836&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=57749185836&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1089/cap.2007.0133
DO - 10.1089/cap.2007.0133
M3 - Article
C2 - 18582177
AN - SCOPUS:57749185836
SN - 1044-5463
VL - 18
SP - 227
EP - 236
JO - Journal of child and adolescent psychopharmacology
JF - Journal of child and adolescent psychopharmacology
IS - 3
ER -