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A Third of Children Diagnosed as Autistic in the US Take Celexa-- New Study Finds It's Less Effective Than a Placebo

Posted: 6/4/2009 at 01:14 PM

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CelexaApproximately one third of Autistic children in the United States take the anti-depressant citalopram, sold in the USA as Celexa. A new study shows that not only does Celexa fail to help Autistic children effectively control repetitive behaviors (stimming), the powerful and mind-altering drug actually performed worse than a placebo.

 

The nationwide trial was headed by Dr. Bryan King, director of psychiatry and behavioral medicine at Seattle Children's Hospital. 149 Autistic children between the ages of five and seventeen were evaluated.73 took citalopram, while 76 took a placebo. After twelve weeks, 33% of patients who took citalopram showed improvement in repetitive behaviors, while 34% of the patients taking a placebo showed the same improvement.

 

If there hadn't been a control group for comparison, King said he would have been impressed by the improvement seen in the children who took the drug. "The decision would most definitely have been made to continue [prescribing citalopram for] them," he said.

 

Not only did Celexa fail to help patients, but the side effects observed were at least twice as bad as those seen in patients taking a placebo. Celexa's side effects included impulsivity and insomnia. Citalopram can also cause nausea, vomiting, muscle/joint pain, fatigue, sexual side effects, seizures, drowsiness, dizziness, and a laundry list of other mild to serious side effects.

 

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  • popurls.com // popular today wrote on Jun 4, 2009 at 4:20 PM
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  • Amandoo’s Handle of Realitumtum » Blog Archive » Celexa / Citalopram - given to 1/3 of children with autism in the US found less effective than a placebo, and with many terrible side effects wrote on Jun 4, 2009 at 5:40 PM
    Pingback from Amandoo’s Handle of Realitumtum » Blog Archive » Celexa / Citalopram - given to 1/3 of children with autism in the US found less effective than a placebo, and with many terrible side effects
  • Amanda wrote on Jun 5, 2009 at 9:12 AM
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    Please note that the 33% vs. 34% difference is probably not significant. The article did not report confidence intervals or margins of error for those percentages, but I'm betting they overlap. Therefore we cannot conclude based on the percentages alone that the Celexa group performed worse than the placebo group. More important to note is the list of side effects experienced by the Celexa group. I'd like to know whether this was an experiment, with kids randomly assigned to the Celexa/placebo groups, or whether this was a survey of kids who were already taking Celexa, plus a set of kids who were given the placebo, as in a quasi-experiment. (And what was the placebo? Sugar/salt tablets? vitamins? It makes a difference.) Knowing how the study was designed could help us, as research consumers, better evaluate the outcomes of this study. It is possible that the Celexa caused the more severe symptoms (which would have been demonstrated if this were a true experiment). Or, if this were a quasi-experiment (or correlational design) the kids who had more severe symptoms as comorbid disorders were placed on the Celexa - in which case the symptoms are not necessarily the result of the Celexa, but might be related to the childrens' conditions. Interesting article, but to truly evaluate the results and their utility, I'd like to know more about how the study was designed and the results (such as the confidence interval).