Simmons, Susan Dawn;
(2024)
Gastrointestinal symptoms in autistic children: their impact, experience of healthcare and efficacy of dietary interventions.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
A randomised double-blind placebo-controlled crossover trial of Vivomixx probiotic was conducted for autistic children aged 3-15 years with at least one persistent gastrointestinal symptom. Vivomixx was not found to improve global function or reduce the frequency of gastrointestinal symptoms in this heterogeneous group. A subgroup of participants displayed a notable improvement in global function following treatment with Vivomixx but post-hoc correlation analysis did not isolate any characteristics that identified these from the rest of the participants. The experience of autistic children with gastrointestinal symptoms, the impact of those symptoms and their experience of related healthcare, has not been explored in the UK. Twelve in-depth interviews were conducted with parents of autistic children with persistent gastrointestinal symptoms. These explored the impact of gastrointestinal symptoms on their autistic child and their family; day-to-day management of their child’s gastrointestinal symptoms; their experience of related healthcare; and their opinions on participation in research studies. Seven major themes emerged from the analysis: i) Gastrointestinal symptoms impact on many aspects of the lives of autistic children and their families and the impact tends to increase with age; ii) Understanding the nature and severity of gastrointestinal symptoms in autistic children is complex and multifactorial; iii) Access to healthcare services for autistic children with gastrointestinal symptoms is variable and often limited, with diagnostic overshadowing; iv) Reasonable adjustments to the current NHS service are needed to reduce child and parent stress; v) Covid-19 lockdown and Covid-safe measures in schools affected gastrointestinal symptoms in autistic children but not in a uniform fashion; vi) There are barriers to involvement in a clinical trial for autistic children and their parents; vii) Parents’ experience of participating in the VIVO-ASD clinical trial can help inform future autism gastrointestinal research study design.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | Gastrointestinal symptoms in autistic children: their impact, experience of healthcare and efficacy of dietary interventions |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2024. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| Keywords: | autism, gastrointestinal, probiotic, qualitative |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Div of Medicine |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10188534 |
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