AUTHOR=Liu Annan , Gong Chao , Wang Bobo , Sun Jiaxing , Jiang Zhimei 

TITLE=Non-invasive brain stimulation for patient with autism: a systematic review and meta-analysis

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=Volume 14 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1147327

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1147327

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=Objective:To comprehensively evaluate the efficacy of non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) in patients with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in randomized controlled trials (RCT),providing reference for future research on the same topic.
Methods:Five databases were searched (Pubmed,Web of science,Medline,Embase and Cochrane library) and track relevant references,Meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.3 software.
Results:Twenty-two references(829 participants) were included.The results of meta analysis showed that,NIBS had positive effects on repetitive and stereotypical behaviors, cognitive function and executive function in autistic patients.Most of the included studies had a moderate to high risk of bias,Mainly because of the lack of blinding of subjects and assessors to treatment assignment, as well as the lack of continuous observation of treatment effects.
Conclusions:Available evidence supports an improvement in some aspects of NIBS in patients with ASD.However,due to the quality of the original studies and significant publication bias, these evidences must be treated with caution.Further large multicenter randomized double-blind controlled trials and appropriate follow-up observations are needed to further evaluate the specific efficacy of NIBS in patients with ASD.