Objective: Glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) has been studied in many neurological diseases. The purpose of this study is to investigate the potential role of GFAP in Chinese children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) by measuring serum circulating levels of GFAP and comparing them with age and gender-matched typical development children. Methods: A total of one hundred and fifty 2-6 years old Chinese children (75 confirmed autism cases and 75 their age-gender matched typical development children) participated in this study. Serum levels of GFAP were assayed with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay methods, and severity of ASD was evaluated with the Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) Score. Results: The results indicated that the mean serum GFAP level was significantly (P1.28 ng/ml (adjusted OR 9.88, 95% CI: 3.32-17.82) in the multivariate logistic analysis model. Conclusion: The data indicates that serum GFAP levels may be associated with severity of ASD among Chinese children, suggesting the hypothesis that increased serum levels of GFAP could be implicated in the pathophjrsiology of autism in Chinese children. (C) 2017 ISDN. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.