Investigating The Effect of Combined Nutritional Supplementation in the Management of Autism Spectrum Disorder and the Progression of Social and Communication Skills: A Nonrandomized Interventional Study

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an increase in the use of nutritional supplementation as a method of treating autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The aim of our study is to investigate the effect of using combined supplementation on treating the symptoms of Autism. In this study, we conducted a nonrandomized, nonblinded trial where we followed up with patients with ASD who were diagnosed through the CARS2-ST scale and evaluated through the Vineland-3 scale within two visits. The patients were divided into control and intervention groups where training only and supplementation with training were used, respectively. Results: The study included a total of 115 participants, out of which 95 (82.6%) were assigned to the intervention group and 20 (17.4%) were assigned to the control group. Significant improvement was observed in the intervention group compared to the control group. It was observed that the CARS2 score for the intervention group was reduced by a mean of 16.1 points compared to only 4.45 mean points reduced in the control group. On the other hand, the Vineland-III scale was increased by a mean of 350.23 points in the intervention group, while the control group had an increase of only 41.3 points. Conclusion: Our study concludes that the use of combined supplementation along with behavioral training greatly reduces autism symptoms compared to training alone. Thus, our study can recommend the use of combined supplementation as a form of treatment for Autism. Further studies with randomization and blinding will be helpful in confirming the findings of our study.