Table 3.
Fatty acids and phospholipids. AUC: Area Under the Curve; ASD: Autistic Spectrum Disorder; HC: healthy controls; SD: standard deviation; AA: arachidonic acid; DHA: docosahexaenoic acid; EPA: eicosapentaenoic acid.
| Lab test | Increase | Decrease | P values | Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) | Diagnosis |
Age (Y): range (mean ± SD) |
Number M/F |
Control group | Country | Biologic sample | Technique | Reference | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cut-off values | Sensitivity | Specificity | AUC | ||||||||||||
| AA/DHA | ∗ | <0.001 | 0.66 | 100.0% | 84.6% | 0.977 | Gas chromatography | ||||||||
| (EPA)/AA | ∗ | <0.001 | 1.07 | 93.8% | 84.6% | 0.937 | Gas chromatography | ||||||||
| Phosphatidyl-serine (mmol/L) | ∗ | <0.001 | 0.068 | 100.0% | 93.7% | 0.998 | HPLC | ||||||||
| Phosphatidylcholine (mmol/L) | ∗ | <0.001 | 1.619 | 80.0% | 75.0% | 0.825 | HPLC | ||||||||
| Linoleic acid/AA | ∗ | 0.03 | 0.69 | 60.0% | 84.6% | 0.592 | Autism | 4–12 | 25 | HC | Saudi Arabia | Plasma | Gas chromatography | [42] | |
| Alpha-linolenic acid/DHA | ∗ | 0.004 | 0.57 | 90.9% | 61.5% | 0.713 | Gas chromatography | ||||||||
| EPA/DHA | = | = | ns | 0.39 | 100.0% | 46.2% | 0.658 | Gas chromatography | |||||||
| Phosphatidylethanolamine (mmol/L) |
∗ | 0.002 | 0.037 | 80.0% | 75.0% | 0.806 | HPLC | ||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||
| Valeric acid (mmol/L) | ∗ | <0.001 | 0.196 | 100% | 100% | 1.000 | |||||||||
| Acetic acid | ∗ | <0.001 | 0.684 | 92.3% | 92.3% | 0.985 | |||||||||
| Lauric acid | ∗ | <0.001 | 1.214 | 100% | 100% | 1.000 | Autism | 4–12 | 26 | HC |
Saudi Arabia ASD |
Plasma | Gas chromatography | [43] | |
| Arachidonic acid | ∗ | <0.001 | 0.271 | 100% | 100% | 1.000 | |||||||||
| Oleic acid | ∗ | <0.001 | 0.463 | 100% | 100% | 1.000 | |||||||||