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Table 4 Means, standard deviations, and differences in change scores between NAC and Placebo groups

From: A randomized placebo-controlled pilot study of N-acetylcysteine in youth with autism spectrum disorder

 

NAC

Placebo

   
 

Baseline

12 Weeks

Baseline

12 Weeks

 

Group with largest changeb

Cohen’s d

 

M

SD

M

SD

M

SD

M

SD

z testa

ABC

Hyperactivity

20.6

12.4

17.4

16.4

22.6

10.5

15.1

10.8

1.04

PLB

0.34

Speech

3.9

2.8

4.1

3.9

5.7

2.9

5.14

3.5

0.66

PLB

0.24

Irritability

17.0

11.8

14.9

14.0

18.3

9.2

12.0

7.3

1.09

PLB

0.40

Lethargy

13.8

8.1

10.0

7.1

14.0

10.5

7.9

4.7

1.15

PLB

0.31

Stereotypy

4.8

3.3

3.9

5.1

7.0

4.9

5.8

4.0

0.56

PLB

0.09

SRS

Total score

108.5

20.7

85.8

34.9

109.1

16.5

89.1

26.3

0.32

NAC

0.11

VABS-II

Comm

85.9

32.1

88.5

32.5

89.4

32.2

95.0

30.3

0.85

PLB

0.09

Daily Liv. Sk.

93.1

33.7

99.0

37.1

87.6

28.1

98.6

33.4

0.17

PLB

0.16

Socialization

66.8

18.8

71.7

18.7

68.3

20.7

75.9

21.0

0.87

PLB

0.14

Composite

61.3

19.4

62.9

17.1

53.6

15.1

60.5

18.8

1.08

PLB

0.30

Levels in whole blood (uM)

GSH

484.8

212.7

780.3

220.6

474.5

191.6

640.4

190.9

1.74*

NAC

0.64

GSSG

12.0

2.5

16.7

10.5

12.8

5.0

12.5

4.4

1.37+

NAC

0.88

GSH/GSSG

43.4

25.6

53.5

16.8

45.2

31.8

59.6

27.0

0.34

PLB

0.17

Homocysteine

4.3

6.1

9.9

13.7

1.9

1.2

5.6

6.8

0.41

NAC

0.27

DNA damage

DNA strand breakage

0.7

0.1

0.7

0.3

0.6

0.2

0.6

0.1

0.38

EVEN

0.00

Oxidative DNA damage

0.9

0.2

1.2

0.4

1.1

0.5

1.2

0.6

0.95

NAC

0.45

  1. aOne-tailed significance + p < .10; *p < .05. Z test of the effect of between level variable of group on the within-level variable of time testing if the change from baseline to week 12 is different between groups. No one-tailed p values for these z tests reached significance at .05 and ranged from .13 to .50
  2. bIdentifies which group had the largest change from baseline to week 12
  3. NAC N-acetylcysteine, M mean, SD standard deviation, ABC Aberrant Behavior Checklist, PLB placebo, SRS social responsiveness scale, VABS-II Vineland adaptive behavior scale 2nd edition, Comm communication, Liv. Sk. living skills, GSH glutathione, GSSG oxidative glutathione disulfide