Gastrointestinal Symptoms in Autistic Patients

Federico Balzola, MD, shares findings on gastrointestinal symptoms and pathological microscopic histological alterations found during upper and lower endoscopy with biopsies in more than 400 patients with autism.

Free certificates of participation are available upon successful completion of a brief knowledge quiz at: https://www.autism.org/gi-symptoms-2023/

Study Overview

The major prevalence of gastrointestinal symptoms in patients with autism compared to healthy controls has been extensively proved, with a potential secondary impact on children’s behaviours. From a physio-pathological point of view, dysbiosis associated to impaired gastrointestinal permeability has been suggested as a potential trigger thus altering the normal nervous system functions. Dietary or pharmacological interventions are often utilized, however, results are still debated. In this uncertain context, the existence of a possible link between gastrointestinal inflammation and neuropsychiatric disorders needs to be clarified in the way to find the right dietetic and pharmacological tools to obtain the best effects on bowel and neurological inflammatory process and for this reason improvement of gastrointestinal and autistic symptoms. Our study confirmed the high prevalence of gastrointestinal symptoms and pathological microscopic histological alterations in more than 400 patients with autism that underwent upper and lower endoscopy with biopsies in our unit. A significant association between clinical manifestations and histological alterations has been identified with a significant improvement of clinical and neuropsychiatric symptoms after dietetic and pharmacological treatment of the intestinal inflammation. Further controlled prospective studies are required in order to confirm these correlations and permit to treat this category of patients at the very early onset of gastrointestinal symptoms in the way to obtain better clinical results unfortunately nor reachable if later attempted for the natural achievement of the complete altered neurological development.

This is a joint presentation by ARI and The World Autism Organisation.