Comparison of Aquatic Exercise Program and Vitamin D Supplementation on Vitamin D and hs-CRP Serum Levels in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Previous studies have shown that levels of vitamin D in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are lower than normal ones and it has a reverse relationship with hs-CRP serum levels. The purpose of this study was to compare the effect of two methods of vitamin D supplementation and aquatic exercise training on vitamin D and hs-CRP serum levels in children with ASD. In this study, 30 boys with autism spectrum disorder in Rasht with an average age of 10.45 ± 2.83 were voluntarily selected and randomly divided into three groups of supplementation (N=10), aquatic exercise (N=10) and control groups (N=10). Participants in the supplementary group orally received vitamin D supplementation (50,000 units) for ten weeks, once a week. Aquatic exercise group received aquatic exercise training for ten weeks, 60 min/ 2 sessions per week. Serum levels of vitamin D and hs-CRP were measured before and after 10 weeks. For data analysis, ANCOVA was used at the level of p<0.05 and SPSS software, version 21 was utilized. Both ten weeks aquatic exercise and supplementary improved serum levels of hs-CRP in children with autism (p <0.05); However, only vitamin D supplementation improved vitamin D serum levels (p <0.05) and aquatic exercise intervention had no significant effect on vitamin D levels. Aquatic exercise and vitamin D supplementation, as low-cost therapies can reduce the level of hs-CRP and improve the serum level of vitamin D in children with ASD.