O papel da vitamina D no tratamento de pacientes com transtorno do espectro autista

Abstract

Objective: to identify, through an integrative literature review, the influence of vitamin D supplementation in the treatment of individuals with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Data sources: Electronic searches were carried out until May 2021, and included original articles published from 2011 on in the LILACS-BIREME, SciELO and PubMed databases. In vitro and animal research, as well as other literature reviews, were excluded. Data synthesis: Seven articles were selected and analyzed, regarding the objective of the study, number and age group of individuals included, the type and duration of the applied intervention and the results observed for the control and intervention group. In 4 studies, the authors observed improvement in symptoms related to autism in children supplemented with vitamin D, based on scales of stereotyped behavior and hyperactivity, and in 2 articles, no significant differences were found between the groups. Conclusions: Despite the scarcity of studies in which vitamin D supplementation was conducted in individuals with autism, it seems promising that supplementation will be used to complement other treatments, given the important role that vitamin D deficiency plays in behavioral disorders and structural and functional abnormalities of the brain, as well as improvement in various symptoms of autism. However, there are limitations in the studies, which need to have their hypotheses verified in the long term, and additional research must be carried out to make vitamin D supplementation an official conduct in the treatment of autism.