The results of a study published in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry suggest that symptoms of Asperger’s disorder are significantly improved by treatment with the atypical antipsychotic drug risperidone.

Asperger’s disorder has been described as a high-functioning form of autism. While patients with the disease have higher intellectual capacity than those with autism, they have a lower social capacity.

Dr. Jeffrey L. Rausch and colleagues from the Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, decided to evaluate risperidone, marketed under the trade name Risperdal, for Asperger’s disorder because it shares many symptoms with schizophrenia, a disorder that responds to the drug.

The researchers enrolled 13 male patients between the ages of 6 and 18 years from March 13, 2002 to August 11, 2003. All of the patients were started on a standard dose of risperidone, which was increased to produce the maximum benefit with tolerable side effects.

After 12 weeks, treatment with risperidone was associated with significant improvements in disease symptoms, the authors note. In addition, the severity of depression, a common feature of the disease, also improved with the drug.

A mild increase in appetite was the most commonly reported side effect. An increase in weight was also observed.

“The implications of this work may potentially extend beyond Asperger’s disorder,” Rausch and colleagues write. “It is possible that a number of (related) disorders may respond to such treatment.”

SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, December 2005.