Although we know, from anecdotal evidence and previous uncontrolled testing, that Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy can successfully treat autism, there has been no controlled test to back up these claims…until now!

Finally, a controlled clinical trial has proved that HBOT leads to improvements in autism spectrum disorders – hurray!

The Trial

“Hyperbaric treatment for children with autism: a multi-center, randomized, double-blind, controlled trial” a clinical trial carried out by Daniel A. Rossignol, Lanier W. Rossignol, Scott Smith, Cindy Schneider, Sally Logerquist, Anju Usman, Jim Neubrander, Eric M. Madren, Gregg Hintz, Barry Grushkin and Elizabeth A. Mumper, is the controlled trial that has got the autism world talking.

Rossignol, and his team from 6 different centers in the US, looked at a total of 62 children aged between 2 and 7 years, who were randomly split into two groups.

One group (the “treatment group”) underwent a program of 40 hours of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (1.3 atmosphere and 24% oxygen) and the second group (the “control group”) a program of 40 hours in a slightly pressurized room (1.03 atmosphere and 21% oxygen).

All of the children were assessed using various measures, including the Clinical Global Impression (CGI), the Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC) and the Aberrant Behavior Checklist (ABC).

The Results

At the end of the program of treatment, children in the treatment group, who had received HBOT, showed significantly improved CGI, ABC and ATEC scores, when compared to the control group.