Table 2.
Outcome measures of participants at each time point and the effects
| Outcomes | TPS group | Sham TPS | Effect | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time pointa | T1 Mean (SD) |
T2 Mean (SD) |
T3 Mean (SD) |
T4 Mean (SD) |
T1 Mean (SD) |
T2 Mean (SD) |
T3 Mean (SD) |
T4 Mean (SD) |
Baseline diff P | Group P | Time P | Group × time P |
| CARS | 30.81 (5.91) | 23.44 (5.66) | 23.44 (7.12) | 23.56 (6.50) | 27.94 (7.05) | 26.00 (4.59) | 26.75 (6.05) | 25.88 (5.43) | 0.14 | 0.73 | <0.001*** | 0.02* |
| AQ | 33.12 (5.41) | 30.12 (6.15) | 28.62 (5.82) | 30.31 (6.61) | 31.81 (4.66) | 30.25 (6.70) | 30.44 (6.15) | 30.31 (7.34) | 0.48 | 0.89 | 0.01* | 0.31 |
| ASAS | 86.69 (14.02) | 72.81 (20.44) | 72.19 (17.15) | 79.12 (24.44) | 86.94 (12.97) | 86.94 (11.03) | 87.00 (13.29) | 82.94 (19.71) | >0.99 | 0.07 | 0.10 | 0.59 |
| SRS | 97.88 (15.63) | 85.19 (14.58) | 80.69 (14.69) | 82.12 (15.40) | 91.62 (16.62) | 87.06 (18.40) | 83.25 (15.71) | 84.94 (17.59) | 0.32 | 0.79 | <0.001*** | 0.12 |
| Stroop test (RT) | ||||||||||||
| Test 1 | 19.65 (4.85) | 17.15 (7.64) | 15.94 (8.05) | 14.80 (6.33) | 21.55 (10.07) | 16.87 (5.81) | 16.36 (5.68) | 14.98 (5.85) | 0.84 | 0.84 | <0.001*** | 0.34 |
| Test 2 | 24.58 (13.30) | 20.41 (8.73) | 18.00 (8.90) | 16.56 (6.69) | 21.21 (7.18) | 18.24 (6.69) | 18.08 (6.61) | 16.72 (5.41) | 0.69 | 0.43 | <0.001*** | 0.04* |
| Test 3 | 33.25 (16.47) | 26.43 (11.04) | 23.73 (11.05) | 23.47 (9.79) | 33.74 (10.95) | 26.97 (8.61) | 27.69 (12.89) | 26.06 (11.94) | 0.44 | 0.78 | <0.001*** | 0.34 |
| Trail Making Test (s) | ||||||||||||
| Test 1 | 16.18 (15.73) | 15.49 (27.99) | 9.95 (9.52) | 9.95 (9.65) | 13.99 (9.45) | 8.73 (3.03) | 6.55 (2.13) | 7.07 (2.81) | 0.72 | 0.23 | <0.001*** | 0.93 |
| Test 2 | 20.92 (19.35) | 13.12 (10.09) | 12.60 (10.54) | 10.52 (8.38) | 12.37 (4.16) | 11.82 (6.07) | 9.18 (5.04) | 8.57 (3.45) | 0.76 | 0.17 | <0.001*** | 0.04* |
| Test 3 | 63.30 (55.89) | 41.09 (30.78) | 34.50 (17.78) | 31.20 (13.14) | 42.95 (13.95) | 34.00 (13.27) | 29.59 (9.02) | 28.73 (10.37) | 0.84 | 0.20 | <0.001*** | 0.04* |
| Digit Span Test | ||||||||||||
| Score (forward) | 11.19 (1.87) | 11.62 (2.00) | 12.38 (1.54) | 12.38 (1.75) | 10.44 (2.39) | 11.00 (2.45) | 11.38 (2.36) | 11.62 (2.00) | 0.36 | 0.19 | <0.001*** | 0.82 |
| Score (backward) | 6.75 (3.13) | 6.38 (3.28) | 7.19 (3.06) | 7.56 (2.94) | 7.94 (3.26) | 8.31 (4.04) | 8.19 (4.31) | 8.62 (3.46) | 0.29 | 0.09 | 0.0168* | 0.55 |
| Length (forward) | 98.62 (22.73) | 89.50 (17.95) | 88.94 (13.61) | 77.38 (22.93) | 99.07 (39.81) | 81.81 (19.52) | 85.50 (13.56) | 81.94 (19.21) | 0.59 | 0.71 | <0.001*** | 0.60 |
| Length (backward) | 111.75 (79.18) | 82.88 (75.31) | 107.94 (60.87) | 119.88 (56.17) | 157.93 (137.20) | 116.56 (94.32) | 107.44 (83.18) | 127.00 (71.56) | 0.37 | 0.37 | 0.65 | 0.07 |
| Verbal Fluency Test | ||||||||||||
| Score at 30 s | 27.25 (7.22) | 31.75 (7.39) | 30.62 (8.32) | 29.25 (7.95) | 27.19 (8.34) | 28.81 (9.04) | 30.25 (8.95) | 29.81 (10.28) | 0.87 | 0.95 | 0.0402* | 0.52 |
| Score at 60 s | 39.00 (10.56) | 44.56 (11.49) | 43.00 (11.79) | 41.25 (9.43) | 38.69 (14.39) | 38.94 (12.89) | 42.44 (15.16) | 39.62 (16.14) | 0.79 | 0.92 | 0.22 | 0.90 |
| CGI | ||||||||||||
| Severity | 5.19 (0.98) | 3.81 (1.28) | 3.31 (1.20) | 3.69 (0.87) | 4.62 (0.96) | 4.31 (0.48) | 3.81 (0.83) | 4.19 (0.66) | 0.12 | 0.43 | <0.001*** | 0.02* |
| Improvement | 4.00 (0.00) | 1.88 (0.62) | 1.81 (0.75) | 2.00 (1.03) | 4.00 (0.00) | 3.94 (0.25) | 4.00 (0.00) | 3.88 (0.50) | >0.99 | <0.001*** | <0.001*** | <0.001*** |
| Efficacy | 1.62 (3.59) | 1.31 (2.02) | 0.06 (0.25) | 0.12 (0.34) | 1.56 (3.58) | 1.62 (4.44) | 0.06 (0.25) | 0.06 (0.25) | 0.98 | 0.83 | 0.002** | 0.93 |
| Total | 10.81 (3.99) | 7.00 (2.37) | 5.19 (1.83) | 5.81 (1.56) | 10.19 (4.17) | 9.88 (4.57) | 7.88 (0.81) | 8.12 (0.96) | 0.15 | 0.006** | <0.001*** | 0.04* |
AQ, Autism Spectrum Quotient Adolescent Version; ASAS, Australian Scale for Asperger’s Syndrome; CARS, Childhood Autism Rating Scale; CGI, clinical global impression; RT, reaction time: s, seconds; SD, standard deviation; SRS, Social Responsiveness Scale.
a
Time point: T1, baseline; T2, immediate after treatment; T3, 1 month after treatment; T4, 3 months after treatment.
*P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001.