Oxygen Therapy Studied in Autistic Children

A new study suggests that hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) may offer some benefit to children with autism.

During HBOT, the patient sits in a special chamber and breathes in oxygen at a level that is higher than the atmospheric pressure. The Undersea and Hyperbaric Medical Society (UHMS) has approved HBOT for several medical conditions, such as carbon monoxide poisoning, decompression sickness and thermal burns. HBOT was first suggested as a potential treatment for autism in the 1990s when it was discovered that autistic adults may have decreased blood circulation in the brain.

This latest study included 62 children with autism who were two to seven years old. They were randomly assigned to receive two hourly treatments of HBOT daily for five days a week or a sham treatment. Treatment lasted for four weeks.

At the beginning and end of the study, the participants’ symptoms were evaluated using the Clinical Global Impression scale, the Aberrant Behavior Checklist and the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist.

The authors found that Clinical Global Impression scores improved significantly in the treatment group (an average of 1.13 points) compared to the control group (0.38 points).

The total Aberrant Behavior Checklist scores were similar among both groups. However, irritability was significantly improved in the treatment group compared to the control.

The total scores from the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist were also not statistically different between the two groups.

This study is limited by the high placebo response. About 73 percent of children in the control group reported some clinical improvement, which was similar to the treatment group. In addition, the study was funded by the International Hyperbarics Association, and the authors are practitioners in private autism or hyperbaric treatment clinics.

HBOT has been associated with a serious and life threatening type of seizure called a grand mal seizure. However, in this study, no serious adverse effects were reported. One child experienced a worsening of asthma symptoms and was withdrawn from the study. Another child dropped out because of anxiety during the first treatment.

Additional research is needed to fully understand how HBOT may affect autism.

For more information about HBOT, please visit Natural Standard’s Health & Wellness database.

Comments

[TM]

What is the availability of hyperbaric chambers in the United States? From what I understand, there is only very limited availability of these in even urban cities and communities, as not every local hospital or clinic has them in their facilities. If further studies confirm its usefulness, then it would be interesting to see if more hospital or clinics would have these chambers installed.

[Tom]

I have always believed that hyperbaric oxygen therapy helps autistic children. I even made a comment on the About.com blog about this on December 15, 2007

My comment regarding Autism Treatments on About.com:

"Considering that I believe this epidemic is caused by sleep apnea, which is associated with acid reflux (on the same gene: Chromosome 13: 13q14), I can see why many parents have found that both gluten-free diets and hyperbaric chambers have been helpful. Tonsillectomies, adenoidectomies and nCPAPs would probably be helpful too."

"Regarding the Autism Epidemic. In 1993 the SIDS Prevention Back to Sleep campaign was started. At that time about 13% of American babies slept on their backs. Now, it is 76%. Back sleep causes more sleep apnea episodes (lack of oxygen) and decreases sleep duration by 6-8% compared to stomach sleep. Therefore, since 1993 tens of millions of babies in America (and 30+ other countries) have had 6-8% less sleep and more sleep apnea episodes. I personally think this is the cause of the autism epidemic."

"Just to follow-up on my previous comment: Sleep apnea has a 4:1 male to female rate. In severe cases of sleep apnea the rate is 10:1. This is because the upper airway anatomies of men and women are different. Sleep apnea can typically be cured by either a tonsillectomy with adenoids removed and/or an nCPAP (nasal Continuous Positive Airway Pressure) machine."

http://autism.about.com/b/2007/12/08/scientific-american-wonders-whether-the-autism-epidemic-is-for-real.htm

http://fourfactortheory.blogspot.com/

[nmh]

I agree with TM's comment above. The availability of this treatment is a problem if it's proven efficacious. This study was only for four weeks, so there were no reports of adverse effects. However, oxygen does have serious side effects; more long-term trials need to be done in order to confirm effectiveness.

[Emily]

I read in one news report that it's possible to buy your own hyperbaric chamber and have it installed in a room at home for $14,000-$17,000. For parents who have one or more autistic children at home and have seen results in their kids in medical settings (and have the money to purchase one of these chambers), it might be a godsend. The results seem pretty significant.

[SW]

Has anyone determined how long these results last? Do kids need to repeat these four-week cycles every few months? Spending two hours/day in a hyperbaric chamber, five days per week for a month seems like a lot of time to devote to this treatment. If it has some lasting effects, that would be great -- but repeating this cycle a few times/year could get pretty old, especially if (like TM posted) you have to travel a bit to get to the treatment facility.

[jane parkinson]

I imagine this type of treatment for autism would be expensive, particularly if it involves traveling to get to a facility that has a hyperbaric chamber. I've been reading a lot of news stories about how the economic downturn has put many families with autistic children in difficult situations because access to treatment and therapy and insurance coverage has been cut. Some families are even relocating large distances to live in states where certain treatments and therapies for autism are covered by law. A recent NPR story mentioned that 10 states have legislation of some sort on this subject.

[Sophie]

HBOT is extremely expensive. A single treatment can cost anywhere from $150 to $1000, and the start-up cost for a small facility with a single chamber costs around $150,000. Unfortunately, insurance companies have been known to deny reimbursement for HBOT. The average person cannot afford to pay out of pocket, which discourages the creation of new facilities. This is why there are many families that have to relocate or travel long distances to receive this type of treatment.

[Ty]

I agree with the comments above regarding the high cost of this therapy. The average person can't really afford this, considering the fact that autistic children have other special needs as well.

However, I want to point out that this study only included 62 children (age ranged from 2 to 7). I don't think 62 children is a big enough study population. If this treatment is really effective, there should be more research to make sure of long-term and short-term side effects before everyone jumps on board -- especially with the high cost.

[AJ]

I agree with Sophie. Cost is such a major factor in this type of therapy. It will be very hard to obtain such therapy unless the family is very wealthy.

[FS]

Insurance coverage is a great point to mention. Obviously, it will be difficult for the average patient to dish out $1,000 per treatment if it is not covered by insurance. As Sophie stated, insurance would usually refuse to pay for such procedures. In my opinion, even if HBOT is proved to be efficacious, I would find it highly improbable that insurance companies would even begin to consider routinely covering such expensive (and possibly ineffective) procedures.

[Sam]

I have not seen any conclusive data about the efficacy of HBOT for the treatment of autism; however, in theory, the idea is sound and more studies should be conducted. Many symptoms of autism may be contributed to the diminished blood flow to various parts of the brain. As a result, this possibly can be compensated by increasing the oxygen tissue concentration (through HBOT), in turn, increasing the cerebral blood flow to different areas.

[Nina B.]

I found it very interesting when I read that hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) can be tracked back to 1600s. A British clergyman named Henshaw built a structure called “domicillium” that was pressurized with air and unpressurized using bellows. It was used to treat a variety of diseases.

[Trevor Fields]

Oxygen is the gas that gives us life. It really shouldn’t be a surprise that giving patients the opportunity to increase their supply of it can benefit them. Any physiological process can be made more efficient if the body is functioning more effectively from this increased oxygen supply. Oxygen bars are becoming commonplace in certain areas and rightly so. Martial artists spend a lifetime learning how to control their breath and distribute oxygen to different areas of their body. This allows them to focus that movement and do things they normally would be unable to do.

If simple breathing exercises were prescribed for treatment in patients with panic attacks, anxiety, HBP, tachycardia, asthma, etc., you would see dramatic improvements if the patients stuck with it and really trained themselves to control their breath and distribute oxygen effectively. These HBOT chambers allow the untrained individual the chance to benefit from added oxygen dispersion within their body.

As for the two adverse events, claustrophobia would certainly cause anxiety and potentially cause bronchoconstriction, thus worsening asthma. These patients may benefit from a mild anxiolytic prior to therapy until they became more comfortable with the treatment. If these chambers were ever mass-produced enough to bring down their cost, I would install one as soon as the opportunity presented itself.

[Miriam]

I have a 5 y/o autistic boy with sensory integration disorder, severe apraxia, and gastrointestinal and feeding issues. All I know is when he was born, I was told he was a healthy baby boy, apgars 9/9. Two years later, he was diagnosed. My son is somewhere inside of himself, and I want to pull him out. I believe and have hope that Biomedical & HBOT Treatments are the answer. Please visit my site for information on how you can help bring this into reality.
http://justinsrecoverywish.blogspot.com/
Thank you

[Lynne Gordon]

I think it is nice that the super expensive HBOT therapy is gaining in respectability and acceptance.

But what about regular old oxygen therapy that has been around for over 100 years and costs pennies a day?

It is basically the exact same principle. You want the extra atom of oxygen in H202 to get into your body at the cellular level so that your body can use it to improve circulation, health and (especially where Autism is concerned) to add extra oxygen to the brain.

We all know that the air we breathe is too polluted to provide us with all the oxygen we need, so many of us 'regular' folks are suffering from oxygen deprivation, as well. This interferes every day with the proper functioning of our brain.

Maybe that's why so many of us jump on the bandwagon with everyone else for some hyped-up, super expensive curative when the same therapy is available for pennies?

[Raymond]

In response to Miriam about getting O2 from somewhere other than a hyperbaric chamber, first, you can't get 100% O2 unless you have a prescription from a doctor. Second, even if you got it, you would not get the same results unless you're under pressure in a hyperbaric chamber. The pressure is what allows your body to absorb the O2. If you were to go to an O2 bar, as someone else suggested, you are not going to get high enough purity O2 to give you any benefit. There are tons of articles about it online -- there's way more info out there than you have time to read.