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document
Cognitive effects of risperidone in children with autism and irritable behavior . OBJECTIVE The objective of this research was to explore the effects of risperidone on cognitive processes in children with autism and irritable behavior . METHOD Thirty-eight children , ages 5-17 years with autism and severe behavioral disturbance , were randomly assigned to risperidone ( 0.5 to 3.5 mg/day ) or placebo for 8 weeks . This sample of 38 was a subset of 101 subjects who participated in the clinical trial ; 63 were unable to perform the cognitive tasks . A double-blind placebo-controlled parallel groups design was used . Dependent measures included tests of sustained attention , verbal learning , hand-eye coordination , and spatial memory assessed before , during , and after the 8-week treatment . Changes in performance were compared by repeated measures ANOVA . RESULTS Twenty-nine boys and 9 girls with autism and severe behavioral disturbance and a mental age > or=18 months completed the cognitive part of the study . No decline in performance occurred with risperidone . Performance on a cancellation task ( number of correct detections ) and a verbal learning task ( word recognition ) was better on risperidone than on placebo ( without correction for multiplicity ) . Equivocal improvement also occurred on a spatial memory task . There were no significant differences between treatment conditions on the Purdue Pegboard ( hand-eye coordination ) task or the Analog Classroom Task ( timed math test ) . CONCLUSION Risperidone given to children with autism at doses up to 3.5 mg for up to 8 weeks appears to have no detrimental effect on cognitive performance .
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Intervention_Pharmacological
risperidone
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Intervention_Pharmacological
risperidone
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Intervention_Pharmacological
risperidone
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Intervention_Control
placebo
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Intervention_Pharmacological
risperidone
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Intervention_Control
placebo
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Intervention_Pharmacological
Risperidone
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Outcome_Mental
cognitive processes
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Outcome_Physical
verbal learning
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Outcome_Physical
hand-eye coordination
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Outcome_Physical
spatial memory assessed before
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Outcome_Mental
ANOVA
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Outcome_Mental
cancellation task ( number of correct detections
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Outcome_Other
)
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Outcome_Mental
verbal learning task ( word recognition )
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Outcome_Mental
spatial memory task
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Outcome_Mental
Purdue Pegboard ( hand-eye coordination )
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Outcome_Mental
Analog Classroom Task ( timed math test
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Outcome_Other
)
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Outcome_Mental
cognitive performance
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Participant_Condition
children with autism and irritable behavior .