الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
O
ur study is an interventional prospective study on 100 autistic children who were diagnosed according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth edition. All were evaluated initially by CARS (childhood autism rating scale) and ATEC (Autism Treatment Evaluation Checklist). An assessment of their gastrointestinal problems was performed by modified 6 GSI score which includes (constipation, diarrhea, stool consistency, stool smell, flatulence, and abdominal pain). Then, we supplemented 50 children with probiotic sachet daily for a period of 3 months. The trade name is (Lacteol Fort) which is a mixture of Lactobacillus delbruekii and Lactobacillus Fermentum.Each sachet contains 100 x106 colony forming units manufactured by Rameda under the permission of Aptalis, France.
The other 50 children were maintained on their standard treatment. After 12 weeks, CARS, ATEC and 6 GSI were repeated and compared to initial scores.
Frequency distribution of gastrointestinal symptoms in our sample of autistic children was 46%, high index > 3 in 27% and low index, defined as ≤ 3 in 19%. Diarrhea was the most prevalent GI symptom. The mean 6 GSI is 1.30 ± 1.54.
A DROP of mean 6GSI score from 1.48±1.72 to 0.56±0.93 after probiotic supplementation was observed which is highly significant (p<0.01). Diarrhea, flatulence and stool consistency were the improved symptoms that showed highly significant difference (p <0.01). There was also a highly significant improvement in CARS, ATEC and its four domains, speech, social, cognitive and physical subscales after probiotic supplementation.
A positive correlation was noted between the total ATEC score and the 6 GSI with a highly significant correlation between 6 GSI and physical subscale of ATEC