An Open-Label Trial of Buspirone for the Treatment of Anxiety in Youth With Autism Spectrum Disorders

February 4, 2025 updated by: Gagan Joshi, Massachusetts General Hospital

An Open-label Trial of Buspirone for the Treatment of Anxiety in Youth With Autism Spectrum Disorders

The main objective of this exploratory 8-week pilot study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of buspirone for the treatment of anxiety in youth (ages 6-17 years) with autism spectrum disorders. The study results will be used to generate hypothesis for a larger randomized controlled clinical trials with explicit hypotheses and sufficient statistical power.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

9

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • Massachusetts
      • Boston, Massachusetts, United States, 02114
        • Massachusetts General Hospital

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

6 years to 17 years (Child)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Male or female participants between 6 and 17 years of age
  • Fulfills diagnosis of autism spectrum disorders by meeting DSM-IV-TR PDD diagnostic criteria of autistic disorder, Asperger's disorder, or PDD-NOS as established by clinical diagnostic interview
  • Participants with a score of ≥13 on the Pediatric Anxiety Rating Scale (PARS)
  • Participants with a score of ≥60 or more on the Anxiety/Depression subscale of CBCL and CGI-Anxiety severity of ≥ 4
  • Subjects can be on psychotropic drugs if they have been on the medication for at least 4 weeks prior to initiating trial treatment and if they are stable, provided the medication is not listed in the Concomitant Medications section of the protocol.
  • Subjects with disruptive behavior disorders, mood, or psychosis will be allowed to participate in the study provided they do not meet any exclusionary criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • I.Q. < 70
  • DSM-IV-TR PDD diagnoses of Rett's disorder, and childhood disintegrative disorder
  • History of active seizure disorder (EEG suggestive of seizure activity and/or history of seizure in last 1 month)
  • Subjects with a medical condition or treatment that will either jeopardize subject safety or affect the scientific merit of the study, including:
  • Pregnant or nursing females
  • Organic brain disorders
  • Uncorrected hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism
  • Clinically significant abnormalities on ECG (e.g., QT prolongation, arrhythmia)
  • History of renal or hepatic impairment
  • Clinically unstable psychiatric conditions or judged to be at serious suicidal risk
  • Current diagnosis of schizophrenia
  • History of substance use (except nicotine or caffeine) within past 3 months or urine drug screen positive for substances of abuse
  • Current treatment with medication with primary central nervous system activity (as specified in the Concomitant Medication section of the protocol)
  • A non-responder or history of intolerance to buspirone, after treatment at an adequate dose and duration as determined by the clinician
  • Subjects currently taking monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOI) and/or CYP3A4 inducers or inhibitors including nefazodone, diltiazem, verapamil, erythromaycin, itraconazole, or rifampin.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Buspirone
Buspirone administered in tablets twice daily titrated to a maximum daily dose of 60mg for 8 weeks.
Drug: Buspirone
Children with autism spectrum disorders will receive buspirone treatment for eight weeks. Buspirone will be titrated to the maximum daily dose during the first four weeks of the trial (dose titration phase). Week 4 onwards, subjects will be maintained on maximum achieved dose until the end of the trial (dose maintenance pahe). During the titration phase, total dose will be increased by 10mg at each visit and by 5mg on the 4th day after each visit.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change From Baseline in Pediatric Anxiety Rating Scale (PARS)
Time Frame: Baseline to week 8
The PARS is a clinician-rated scale to be used with parents and children. It consists of 57 items and has two sections: a symptom checklist (first 50 items) and severity items (last 7 items). The symptom checklist is used to determine the child's repertoire of symptoms during the past week. The 7 severity items are used to determine severity of symptoms and the PARS total score. The total score for the PARS is derived by summing the 7 severity items; total score ranges from 0 to 35, where higher scores indicate greater severity. The outcome reported reflects the change from baseline in PARS scores. When examining change from baseline, negative scores represent improvement (i.e., decrease in severity from baseline).
Baseline to week 8
Clinician-rated Clinical Global Impression-Anxiety-Improvement (CGI-Anxiety-I) Scores of Improved or Very Much Improved at Study Endpoint
Time Frame: Week 8 (study endpoint)
The CGI-Anxiety-I is a clinician rated measure of anxiety improvement. Improvement scores range from 1 (very much improved) to 7 (very much worse). This outcome reports the number of participants who scored ≤2 (improved or very much) at study endpoint.
Week 8 (study endpoint)
Treatment Responder
Time Frame: Week 8 (study endpoint)
Treatment responder is defined by a Clinician-rated Clinical Global Impression-Anxiety-Improvement (CGI-Anxiety-I) score ≤ 2 (improved or very much improved) and a ≥30% reduction on the Pediatric Anxiety Rating Scale (PARS) from baseline.
Week 8 (study endpoint)

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Massachusetts General Hospital

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Gagan Joshi, MD, Massachusetts General Hospital

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

July 1, 2013

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2024

Study Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2024

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 22, 2013

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 7, 2013

First Posted (Estimated)

May 9, 2013

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 25, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

February 4, 2025

Last Verified

February 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2013-P-000661

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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