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Basal and Adrenocorticotropic Hormone Stimulated Plasma Cortisol Levels Among Egyptian Autistic Children: Relation to Disease Severity

BACKGROUND: Autism is a disorder of early childhood characterized by social impairment, communication abnormalities and stereotyped behaviors. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis deserves special attention, since it is the basis for emotions and social interactions that are affected...

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Autores principales: Hamza, Rasha T, Hewedi, Doaa H, Ismail, Mona A
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2010
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2987909/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21034507
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1824-7288-36-71
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author Hamza, Rasha T
Hewedi, Doaa H
Ismail, Mona A
author_facet Hamza, Rasha T
Hewedi, Doaa H
Ismail, Mona A
author_sort Hamza, Rasha T
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: Autism is a disorder of early childhood characterized by social impairment, communication abnormalities and stereotyped behaviors. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis deserves special attention, since it is the basis for emotions and social interactions that are affected in autism. AIM: To assess basal and stimulated plasma cortisol, and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) levels in autistic children and their relationship to disease characteristics. METHODS: Fifty autistic children were studied in comparison to 50 healthy age-, sex- and pubertal stage- matched children. All subjects were subjected to clinical evaluation and measurement of plasma cortisol (basal and stimulated) and ACTH. In addition, electroencephalography (EEG) and intelligence quotient (IQ) assessment were done for all autistic children. RESULTS: Sixteen% of autistic patients had high ACTH, 10% had low basal cortisol and 10% did not show adequate cortisol response to ACTH stimulation. Autistic patients had lower basal (p = 0.032) and stimulated cortisol (p = 0.04) and higher ACTH (p = 0.01) than controls. Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) score correlated positively with ACTH (r = 0.71, p = 0.02) and negatively with each of basal (r = -0.64, p = 0.04) and stimulated cortisol (r = -0.88, p < 0.001). Hormonal profile did not differ in relation to EEG abnormalities, IQ and self- aggressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The observed hormonal changes may be due to a dysfunction in the HPA axis in autistic individuals. Further studies are warranted regarding the role of HPA axis dysfunction in the pathogenesis of autism.
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spelling pubmed-29879092010-11-19 Basal and Adrenocorticotropic Hormone Stimulated Plasma Cortisol Levels Among Egyptian Autistic Children: Relation to Disease Severity Hamza, Rasha T Hewedi, Doaa H Ismail, Mona A Ital J Pediatr Research BACKGROUND: Autism is a disorder of early childhood characterized by social impairment, communication abnormalities and stereotyped behaviors. The hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis deserves special attention, since it is the basis for emotions and social interactions that are affected in autism. AIM: To assess basal and stimulated plasma cortisol, and adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) levels in autistic children and their relationship to disease characteristics. METHODS: Fifty autistic children were studied in comparison to 50 healthy age-, sex- and pubertal stage- matched children. All subjects were subjected to clinical evaluation and measurement of plasma cortisol (basal and stimulated) and ACTH. In addition, electroencephalography (EEG) and intelligence quotient (IQ) assessment were done for all autistic children. RESULTS: Sixteen% of autistic patients had high ACTH, 10% had low basal cortisol and 10% did not show adequate cortisol response to ACTH stimulation. Autistic patients had lower basal (p = 0.032) and stimulated cortisol (p = 0.04) and higher ACTH (p = 0.01) than controls. Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) score correlated positively with ACTH (r = 0.71, p = 0.02) and negatively with each of basal (r = -0.64, p = 0.04) and stimulated cortisol (r = -0.88, p < 0.001). Hormonal profile did not differ in relation to EEG abnormalities, IQ and self- aggressive symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: The observed hormonal changes may be due to a dysfunction in the HPA axis in autistic individuals. Further studies are warranted regarding the role of HPA axis dysfunction in the pathogenesis of autism. BioMed Central 2010-10-30 /pmc/articles/PMC2987909/ /pubmed/21034507 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1824-7288-36-71 Text en Copyright ©2010 Hamza et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Research
Hamza, Rasha T
Hewedi, Doaa H
Ismail, Mona A
Basal and Adrenocorticotropic Hormone Stimulated Plasma Cortisol Levels Among Egyptian Autistic Children: Relation to Disease Severity
title Basal and Adrenocorticotropic Hormone Stimulated Plasma Cortisol Levels Among Egyptian Autistic Children: Relation to Disease Severity
title_full Basal and Adrenocorticotropic Hormone Stimulated Plasma Cortisol Levels Among Egyptian Autistic Children: Relation to Disease Severity
title_fullStr Basal and Adrenocorticotropic Hormone Stimulated Plasma Cortisol Levels Among Egyptian Autistic Children: Relation to Disease Severity
title_full_unstemmed Basal and Adrenocorticotropic Hormone Stimulated Plasma Cortisol Levels Among Egyptian Autistic Children: Relation to Disease Severity
title_short Basal and Adrenocorticotropic Hormone Stimulated Plasma Cortisol Levels Among Egyptian Autistic Children: Relation to Disease Severity
title_sort basal and adrenocorticotropic hormone stimulated plasma cortisol levels among egyptian autistic children: relation to disease severity
topic Research
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2987909/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21034507
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1824-7288-36-71
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