Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Research Unit, Aarhus University Hospital, Psychiatry, Aarhus, Denmark.
Nord J Psychiatry. 2024 Oct;78(7):553-560. doi: 10.1080/08039488.2024.2381541. Epub 2024 Jul 22.
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting about 1% of children. The disorder is characterized by difficulties within three core symptoms: social interactions, communication, and restricted or repetitive behavior. There is currently no approved psychopharmacological treatment; however, it is hypothesized that ASD symptoms might be ameliorated by manipulating the endocannabinoid (eCB) system.This study aims to review the existing research on cannabinoids as a potential effective treatment for the core symptoms of ASD in children and adolescents.
A literature search was conducted on PubMed, Embase, APA PsychInfo, and Cochrane. The available literature was screened, and studies were included if: the study population consisted of children/adolescents, the treatment involved cannabinoids, and the outcome assessed was the impact on core ASD symptoms.
The search yielded five studies, two RCTs and three cohort studies. All the included studies reported an effect of the cannabinoid treatment; however, most of these effects were non-significant and not related to core symptoms. Only one study found a significant improvement on all three core symptoms. The risk of bias was rated as "high" or "very high" in four studies and as "low" in one study.
Although the included studies did not find substantial results regarding core ASD symptoms, they all reported that cannabinoid treatment had other positive effects. However, Long term outcome is unknown, and safety aspects are scarcely discussed.
Based on this review, the effect of cannabinoid treatment on ASD core symptoms is not clear; therefore, further studies are required.
自闭症谱系障碍（ASD）是一种影响约 1%儿童的神经发育障碍。该疾病的特征是在三个核心症状中存在困难：社交互动、沟通以及受限或重复的行为。目前尚无批准的精神药理学治疗方法；然而，据推测，通过操纵内源性大麻素（eCB）系统，ASD 症状可能会得到改善。本研究旨在综述大麻素作为儿童和青少年 ASD 核心症状潜在有效治疗方法的现有研究。
在 PubMed、Embase、APA PsychInfo 和 Cochrane 上进行了文献检索。对可用文献进行筛选，如果研究人群包括儿童/青少年、治疗涉及大麻素且评估的结果是对 ASD 核心症状的影响，则纳入研究。
搜索结果产生了五项研究，两项 RCT 和三项队列研究。所有纳入的研究都报告了大麻素治疗的效果；然而，这些效果大多数并不显著，与核心症状无关。只有一项研究发现所有三个核心症状都有显著改善。四项研究的偏倚风险被评为“高”或“非常高”，一项研究的偏倚风险被评为“低”。
尽管纳入的研究没有发现关于 ASD 核心症状的实质性结果，但它们都报告说大麻素治疗有其他积极影响。然而，长期结果尚不清楚，且安全性方面几乎没有讨论。
基于本综述，大麻素治疗对 ASD 核心症状的效果尚不清楚；因此，需要进一步研究。
