Hyperbaric therapy (also known as hyperbaric oxygen therapy or HBOT) is the medical use of oxygen at a pressure which is higher than normal atmospheric pressure.
The oxygen is administered to the individual in a pressurised chamber in order to increase oxygen absorption in bodily tissue.
Hyperbaric therapy is normally used for the treatment of conditions such as embolisms, decompression sickness or carbon monoxide poisoning.
Some people think that hyperbaric therapy can also be used to reduce some of the core symptoms of autism by addressing underlying physiological problems which they believe cause those symptoms.
The National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) made the following recommendations:
'Do not use hyperbaric oxygen therapy for the management of core symptoms of autism in adults.' (NICE, 2012)
Some autistic individuals may have one or more physiological problems according to a limited amount of research evidence of sufficiently high quality. However, how many individuals on the autism spectrum have these physiological problems is unclear.
It is also unclear if these problems cause or worsen the features of autism and related issues, if they arise because of the autism, or if they are completely unrelated to the autism.
There are three high quality randomised controlled trials of hyperbaric therapy. Two of these trials show no benefit and one shows some benefit to autistic participants.
There is currently sufficient research evidence to suggest that hyperbaric therapy is ineffective as an intervention for autistic individuals. There is no need for further research.
Please read our Disclaimer on Autism Interventions
Hyperbaric therapy is normally used to treat people with medical conditions such as embolisms, decompression sickness or carbon monoxide poisoning.
Some people have suggested that hyperbaric therapy can also be used to treat autistic individuals who have underlying physiological conditions such as cerebral hypoperfusion, inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress.
Some people think that some autistic individuals suffer from a range of physiological problems.
They think that these physiological problems may cause many of the other problems found in autistic people, such as poor eye contact, poor socialisation and lack of attention.
They also think that hyperbaric therapy can be used to reduce or overcome the underlying physiological problems and that this can lead to a reduction in the behavioural problems.
There have been a number of studies which claim that hyperbaric therapy can help reduce physiological problems in some autistic individuals. For example,
There have been a number of studies which claim that hyperbaric therapy can lead to improvements in behaviour. For example,
Hyperbaric therapy (also known as hyperbaric oxygen therapy or HBOT) is the medical use of oxygen at a pressure higher than normal atmospheric pressure.
The oxygen is delivered to the individual in a pressurised chamber in order to increase oxygen absorption in bodily tissue.
Under these conditions, their lungs can gather more oxygen than would be possible breathing pure oxygen at normal air pressure.
Normal atmospheric pressure is described as 1 atmosphere (1 atm). In hyperbaric therapy the air pressure in the chamber is gradually increased to a higher target level, which is usually between 2.0 and 3.0 atm depending on the treatment.
The air in the chamber may contain a mixture of gasses, with the amount of oxygen varying between 21% to 100% oxygen depending on the treatment and on the type of chamber used.
Each treatment session consists of a compression cycle during which the pressure is increased slowly to allow for equilibration of air pressure in the ears and sinuses, followed by a period where air is delivered at the target pressure, followed by a decompression cycle when the pressure is returned to normal.
Some people have suggested that autistic people do not need very high atmospheric pressure. For example, according to Halepeto et al (2014)
"..., improvements have been observed via treatments with 95 - 100% oxygen and hyperbaric pressures of 1.5 - 2.0 atm for some chronic neurological conditions, including autism. Furthermore, improvements in autism have also been observed with the use of hyperbaric pressures of 1.3 atm and oxygen levels of 21 - 24%."
There are various different types of hyperbaric chamber including
- Hyperbaric Treatment
We have identified a number of organisations in the UK offering hyperbaric treatments, each of which charges different amounts.
According to the OxygenHealing website, accessed on 11 September 2015
"All HBOT chambers have a range of fees per treatment that depend on:
Fees range from £50 to £300 per treatment [session]. "
We have identified a number of organisations in Canada and the USA offering hyperbaric treatments ranging between $100- $250 (£65-£165) per session.
In the UK, hyperbaric therapy is not currently provided for autistic people via the NHS as it is not accepted as an evidence-based practice.
- Hyperbaric Chamber
The cost of the chamber will depend on the type and size of chamber. Generally speaking smaller portable chambers, soft sided or inflatable chambers, and second hand chambers seem to be less expensive.
We undertook a brief internet search in September 2015 and found chambers that ranged in price from $3,950 to $100,000 [£2,600 to £65,900).
Hyperbaric therapy may require one or more consultations with a specialist, numerous sessions or ‘dives’ in the chamber over several weeks or months, travel to the centre, overnight stays and so on.
The number of dives is usually individualised to each person and the condition that is being treated. So a treatment course can be anything from 3 to 10, 20 or 40 dives, each of which may last between 60 minutes to two hours.
According to Latham (2016)
"As with any medical therapy, treatment brings both risks and benefits. One of the more frequently seen injuries caused by hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is barotrauma (ie, injuries caused by pressure as a result of an inability to equalize pressure from an air-containing space and the surrounding environment)."
According to the Food and Drug Administration (2013)
"Patients receiving HBOT are at risk of suffering an injury that can be mild (such as sinus pain, ear pressure, painful joints) or serious (such as paralysis, air embolism). Since hyperbaric chambers are oxygen rich environments, there is also a risk of fire."
According to Health Canada (2005)
"When used to treat recognized medical conditions, hyperbaric oxygen therapy is generally safe, as long as:
"However, there are risks. Before consenting to treatment, you should consider these factors:
"There is also a risk the chamber might explode if it has not been properly installed or if the staff is not properly trained. In addition, it may be difficult or impossible for operators to deal with medical emergencies that may come up when patients are isolated inside the closed chamber."
According to Latham (2016)
There are a number of suppliers of hyperbaric therapy in the UK, the USA and other countries.
There are approximately 75 organisations providing hyperbaric therapy in the UK. These include NHS hospitals, Multiple Sclerosis National Therapy Centres as well as various organisations affiliated to the British Hyperbaric Association.
There are also a number of manufacturers of hyperbaric chambers in the UK, the USA and other countries. You can buy chambers direct from these manufacturers or via the internet.
There are a number of organisations which are responsible for the regulation of hyperbaric therapy organisations and/or devices.
In the UK the Care Quality Commission is responsible for the regulation of organisations which provide hyperbaric chamber services. This includes for example ensuring the safety, availability and suitability of equipment used.
In addition, the NHS has published guidance on the use of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (2013). This states that any NHS facility providing hyperbaric therapy should meet a number of requirements including
In the USA, hyperbaric chambers are medical devices that require clearance by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). FDA clearance of a device for a specific use means FDA has reviewed valid scientific evidence supporting that use and determined that the device is at least as safe and effective as another legally U.S.-marketed device.
The first recorded use of hyperbaric therapy was by a British clergyman named Henshaw in the 1600s. He built a structure called the domicilium that was pressurised and unpressurised with air using bellows.
The French surgeon Fontaine built a pressurized, mobile operating room in 1879 and Orville Cunningham built an entire hospital in 1928 that was 6 stories high and could be pressurised to 3 atmospheres.
Behnke and Shaw used pressurised chambers to treat patients with decompression sickness in the 1930s.
The first published report of the use of HBOT in an autistic individual was in 1994. In this report, treatment with HBOT resulted in improvements in mood and social interactions in a three year old autistic child.
We have identified nine scientific studies of hyperbaric therapy in peer-reviewed journals published in English.
These trials included more than 200 individuals aged from 3 to 16. These individuals included people with autistic disorder, Asperger syndrome and pervasive developmental disorder - not otherwise specified.
There are a number of limitations to all of the research studies published to date. For example
Rossignol et al (2012) concluded
“Many of the reviewed studies suffered from limitations, including the lack of control children, an open-label design, a small number of participants, a retrospective design and the use of parent-rated scales. Indeed, there were only two controlled studies that did not suffer from these types of limitations. These limitations may have contributed to inconsistent findings across studies. In addition, some studies used measurements or observational techniques which may not have been sufficient to measure changes in certain areas, such as attention and memory [123]. The reviewed studies also utilized many different standardized and non-standardized instruments, making it difficult to directly compare the results of studies or to know if there are specific areas of behavior in which HBOT is most effective. None of the studies reported measurements of the long-term effects of HBOT beyond the study period, so it is not known if any of the reported improvements were long lasting.”
Halepeto et al (2014) concluded
“Very few controlled and case studies have been reported on HBOT for autistic children. These studies had multiple internal and external validity problems and provided controversial and insufficient evidence to establish a clear relationship between physiologic changes after HBOT sessions, measures of clinical improvement and the risks and benefits of HBOT for children with ASD.”
“It is noted that inadequate attention was paid to measuring and reporting adverse events. While the available evidence did not indicate serious, life threatening adverse effects. Because the existing evidence is insufficient for clinicians and patients to draw conclusions, good quality observational studies, designed to minimize bias present in existing research, should be conducted.“
Despite this, both Rossignol et al and Halepeto et al go on to state that they believe that hyperbaric treatment appears to be safe and a promising treatment for children with autism.
For a comprehensive list of potential flaws in research studies, please see ‘Why some autism research studies are flawed’
There is currently sufficient research evidence to suggest that hyperbaric therapy is ineffective as an intervention for autistic people.
We do not believe that any future studies are required.
This section provides details of scientific studies into the effectiveness of hyperbaric therapy for people with autism which have been published in English-language, peer-reviewed journals.
If you know of any other publications we should list on this page please email info@informationautism.org
Please note that we are unable to supply publications unless we are listed as the publisher. However, if you are a UK resident you may be able to obtain them from your local public library, your college library or direct from the publisher.
This section provides details of other publications on this topic.
You can find more publications on this topic in our publications database.
If you know of any other publications we should list on this page please email info@informationautism.org
Please note that we are unable to supply publications unless we are listed as the publisher. However, if you are a UK resident you may be able to obtain them from your local public library, your college library or direct from the publisher.
This section provides details of personal accounts of the use of hyperbaric therapy for autistic people.
Personal accounts can be useful sources of information about the intervention but are not as scientifically valid or reliable as research trials. This may be especially true where the accounts are published by an organisation which might gain a financial advantage from the take-up of the intervention.
Please note that the views expressed in these personal accounts do not necessarily represent our views.
Carol Hendrisk, reporting on her patient Ani in the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons, Volume 15, Number 3, Fall 2010.
"Many other improvements were observed. She speaks more clearly and can be understood by outsiders. She can ‘dance’ now; before she was too rigid and mechanical. She sees more detail at a distance. She has made great strides in self-help. She now attempts all selfcare instead of waiting for her mother to take care of her. She just started brushing her own hair. She manages her own period, and she takes care of her clothing."
Every few years, the European Committee for Hyperbaric Medicine (ECHM) publishes its recommendations concerning the clinical indications for hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). According to Kot J. Mathieu D. (2011) who wrote the most recent recommendations:
“Currently there is no clear rationale for HBOT in autism based on clinically proven pathophysiological mechanisms. The few studies on the use of pressurised environments (not always compatible with the definition of ‘hyperbaric oxygen therapy’) for autism have serious methodological limitations. Therefore, autism should remain as a non-accepted indication for HBOT. HBOT should be used only within the framework of an ethically approved clinical trial.”