Table 1.

Case-control study comparing oxidative stress parameters (mean ± SD) between autistic children and age-matched healthy controls.

Parameter	Autism	Controls	Reference range for controls	Statistics (p value)
Number	38	24
Age (years)	7.25 ± 3.9	8.7 ± 3.2	4.4–16	p = 0.13
Comet assay (% oxidized DNA)	24 ± 9	14.9 ± 3.9	10.2–21.5	p = 0.0002
Lipid peroxides (μM)	673 ± 339	609 ± 219	183–1095	p = 0.41
Oxidized LDL (ng/ml)	1465 ± 1377	1257 ± 1111	78–3490	p = 0.54
Antibodies against ox-LDL (IU/L)	747 ± 428	568 ± 419	82–1200	p = 0.12
Paroxonase (μM/L)	147 ± 115	137 ± 75	3–282	p = 0.73
Copper (mg/L)	1.13 ± 0.26	0.99 ± 0.25	0.57–1.78	p = 0.04
Manganese (μg/L)	10.1 ± 2.58	10 ± 1.86	6.98–15.24	p = 0.87
Selenium (μg/L)	77.4 ± 21.2	77.21 ± 11.53	50.5–98.5	p = 0.96
Zinc (mg/L)	0.84 ± 0.16	0.84 ± 0.11	0.59–1.02	p = 1
Ratio copper/zinc	1.34 ± 0.35	1.17 ± 0.23	0.74–1.79	p = 0.04
Ceruloplasmin (g/L)	0.31 ± 0.06	0.28 ± 0.05	0.18–0.39	p = 0.04
Vitamine C (μg/ml)	11.5 ± 4.82	14 ± 2.9	5.14–19.49	p = 0.027
Ubichinon Q10 (mg/L)	0.68 ± 0.25	0.64 ± 0.17	0.35–1.06	p = 0.50
Vitamine E (mg/L)	10.08 ± 2.17	10.7 ± 2.4	6.4–16.38	p = 0.30
Gamma-tocopherol (mg/L)	0.63 ± 0.41	0.70 ± 0.26	0.29–1.28	p = 0.46
Beta-carotene (mg/L)	0.3 ± 0.29	0.39 ± 0.25	0.05–0.99	p = 0.22
Thiol proteins (μM/L)	402 ± 47	363 ± 67	203–436	p = 0.02
Total glutathione (μM/L)	851 ± 204	811 ± 141	615–1162	p = 0.40
Oxidized glutathione (μM/L)	1.24 ± 1.87	1.39 ± 2	0.53–9.37	p = 0.76
Glutathione peroxidase (IU/g Hb)	42.2 ± 16.5	40.25 ± 8.4	25–59	p = 0.60
Superoxide dismutase (IU/g Hb)	1646 ± 319	1432 ± 168	1057–1772	p = 0.005

The reference range for controls shows the upper and lower boundary limits for healthy controls. The determined p values using the unpaired student t-test can be found in the last column.