Evidence map›Paper›PMID 33420109›Full record

SynthesisScientific reports2021

Peripheral blood neurotrophic factor levels in children with autism spectrum disorder: a meta-analysis.

Shu-Han Liu, Xiao-Jie Shi, Fang-Cheng Fan, Yong Cheng

Open access · goldAbstract readMeta-AnalysisSystematic Review
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in Scientific reports, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
35citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
5.2field-weighted citation impact, top 4% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

35 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 65 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Review
  4. Review
  5. Article
  6. Review
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. The Neuroimmunology of Autism.Molecular neurobiology · 2025
    Review
  11. Review
  12. Article
  13. Review
  14. Review
  15. The Ambiguous Role of Growth Factors in Autism: What Do We Really Know?International journal of molecular sciences · 2025
    Review
  16. Article
  17. Review
  18. Article
  19. Review
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Shu-Han LiuCenter On Translational Neuroscience, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Minzu University of China, 27 South Zhongguancun Avenue, Zhongguancun South St, Haidian District, Beijing, 100081, China.
Xiao-Jie ShiCenter On Translational Neuroscience, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Minzu University of China, 27 South Zhongguancun Avenue, Zhongguancun South St, Haidian District, Beijing, 100081, China.
Fang-Cheng FanCenter On Translational Neuroscience, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Minzu University of China, 27 South Zhongguancun Avenue, Zhongguancun South St, Haidian District, Beijing, 100081, China.
Yong ChengCenter On Translational Neuroscience, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Minzu University of China, 27 South Zhongguancun Avenue, Zhongguancun South St, Haidian District, Beijing, 100081, China. yongcheng@muc.edu.cn.
Minzu University of China · CN

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Increasing evidence suggests that abnormal regulation of neurotrophic factors is involved in the etiology and pathogenesis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, clinical data on neurotrophic factor levels in children with ASD were inconsistent. Therefore, we performed a systematic review of peripheral blood neurotrophic factors levels in children with ASD, and quantitatively summarized the clinical data of peripheral blood neurotrophic factors in ASD children and healthy controls. A systematic search of PubMed and Web of Science identified 31 studies with 2627 ASD children and 4418 healthy controls to be included in the meta-analysis. The results of random effect meta-analysis showed that the peripheral blood levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (Hedges' g = 0.302; 95% CI = 0.014 to 0.591; P = 0.040) , nerve growth factor (Hedges' g = 0.395; 95% CI = 0.104 to 0.686; P = 0.008) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) (Hedges' g = 0.097; 95% CI = 0.018 to 0.175; P = 0.016) in children with ASD were significantly higher than that of healthy controls, whereas blood neurotrophin-3 (Hedges' g =  - 0.795; 95% CI =  - 1.723 to 0.134; P = 0.093) and neurotrophin-4 (Hedges' g = 0.182; 95% CI =  - 0.285 to 0.650; P = 0.445) levels did not show significant differences between cases and controls. Taken together, these results clarified circulating neurotrophic factor profile in children with ASD, strengthening clinical evidence of neurotrophic factor aberrations in children with ASD.

Indexed as

Autism Spectrum DisorderBiomarkersBrain-Derived Neurotrophic FactorCase-Control StudiesChildFemaleHumansMaleNerve Growth FactorNerve Growth FactorsNeurotrophin 3Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor ABDNF protein, humanBiomarkersBrain-Derived Neurotrophic FactorNerve Growth FactorNerve Growth FactorsNeurotrophin 3neurotrophin 4NGF protein, humanNTF3 protein, humanVascular Endothelial Growth Factor AVEGFA protein, human

Identifiers

PMID33420109
PMCPMC7794512
OpenAlexW3120260791

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.