Evaluating placebo responses to intranasal oxytocin in autism: findings from the placebo lead-in phase of a randomised controlled trial

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Oxytocin, published as a randomized controlled trial.

This study reports on data from the single-blind, placebo lead-in phase of a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to investigate the placebo response and its relationship to treatment response in autistic children.

Why It Was Studied

The placebo effect is established in clinical trials, but for paediatric research, questions remain about how to best manage its influence.

Within the autism field, data on these issues is sparse.

Who Took Part

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were young children and children, both men and women.

Participants underwent a 3-week, single-blind placebo lead-in before randomisation into a 12-week double-blind treatment phase (oxytocin, n = 45; placebo, n = 42).

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind, single-blind and placebo-controlled study.

Because people in this Oxytocin study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

Blinding on both sides kept the participants and researchers unaware of who received Oxytocin.

Only one side, usually the participants, was kept unaware of whether Oxytocin was given.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Oxytocin could be set against what happens without it.

The Social Responsiveness Scale, 2nd Edition (SRS-2) Total Raw Score was used to measure change from baseline to post-placebo lead-in.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Oxytocin, Placebo Effect, Autistic Disorder, Autism Spectrum Disorder and Outcome Assessment, Health Care.

Author keywords: Treatment, anxiety and social interaction.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and single-blind study of Oxytocin.

Results are reported in around 7 sentences of the abstract; we leave them to the paper itself rather than summarise them.

The publication is from 2026 (Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines), a journal based in England.

More context: the Oxytocin compound page, all human trials.