Social and Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, São Paulo, Brazil.
Developmental Disorders Graduate Program, Mackenzie Presbyterian University, São Paulo, Brazil.
Dev Med Child Neurol. 2019 Mar;61(3):298-304. doi: 10.1111/dmcn.14104. Epub 2018 Nov 19.
Our aim was to review available studies which test transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to reduce symptom severity in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
We performed a systematic scoping review in PubMed and PsychINFO databases for studies employing tDCS in children and adolescents with ASD.
We found five studies (two small randomized controlled studies, one experimental study, one quasi-experimental study, and one case study) reporting positive effects of tDCS in ASD symptom reduction. Study design varied greatly and sample size ranged from 1 to 20 patients.
Preliminary evidence is encouraging of the potential usefulness of tDCS for treatment of ASD in children and adolescents. It suggests tentative support for reductions in symptom severity and, according to parental reports and clinical observations, improvements in some aspects of language. However, the evidence is sparse and of low quality, so the true effect of tDCS is likely to be substantially different from the estimate of effect in this review. Therefore, future randomized controlled trials are needed to draw conclusions regarding tDCS efficacy in paediatric samples with ASD.
There is low confidence in the estimate of effect, but tentatively encouraging results warrant further investigation.
我们旨在回顾现有的研究，这些研究测试经颅直流电刺激（tDCS）是否可以减轻自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）儿童的症状严重程度。
我们在 PubMed 和 PsychINFO 数据库中进行了系统的范围综述，以寻找在 ASD 儿童中使用 tDCS 的研究。
我们发现五项研究（两项小型随机对照研究、一项实验研究、一项准实验研究和一项案例研究）报告了 tDCS 对 ASD 症状减轻的积极影响。研究设计差异很大，样本量从 1 到 20 名患者不等。
初步证据令人鼓舞地表明 tDCS 对儿童和青少年 ASD 的治疗具有潜在的有效性。它提示了对症状严重程度的降低的支持，并且根据父母的报告和临床观察，在语言的某些方面有所改善。然而，证据稀疏且质量低，因此 tDCS 的真实效果可能与本综述中的效果估计有很大不同。因此，需要进一步的随机对照试验来得出关于 tDCS 在 ASD 儿科样本中的疗效的结论。
对效应的估计信心度低，但初步令人鼓舞的结果值得进一步研究。
