Pilot Study of Sleep Therapy and Biomarkers in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Autism Spectrum Disorder Clinical Trial

Official title: Pilot Study of Sleep Therapy and Biomarkers in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorders

Status Terminated

Clinical Trial Summary

The purpose of this study is to test the combined effect of melatonin and donepezil on improving sleep and behavior in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Melatonin is a natural neurohormone that helps regulate sleep and wake cycles. Donepezil is used to improve mental function for people with Alzheimer's disease. Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders are more likely to have problems sleeping than other children. This difficulty has been linked to daytime behavioral problems and family stress.

Clinical Trial Description

The goal of the present exploratory investigation is to see if there is a suggestion of a large additive or synergistic effect of melatonin and donepezil given together. Individually both medications improve sleep, but appear do so in different ways, with melatonin altering circadian rhythm and donepezil altering the characteristics of REM sleep. In this pilot investigation we will examine whether their combined effects on sleep lead to a large improvement in the behavior of children with ASD. Combined pharmacotherapy is very common in clinical practice, but is rarely studied in research (Comer et al. 2010). These two medications are both well tolerated and there is no negative drug interaction between the two. This investigation will use an RCT as well as a set of exploratory analyses to assess the combined effects of these two medications compared to placebo in terms of behavioral and sleep measures. In addition we will collect exploratory biomarkers (e.g., digit ratio, the ratio of the lengths different fingers as a measure of the balance of sex hormones during embryonic development) to relate to the various sleep and behavioral measures. A positive signal from this study may be used to guide a follow-up study with greater numbers of study subjects and statistical power. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Autistic Disorder
• Child Development Disorders, Pervasive

• NCT number: NCT02487082
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: Stony Brook University
• Status: Terminated
• Phase: Phase 2
• Start date: June 2015
• Completion date: January 29, 2021