[Pediatric pharmacology: is treatment of children preceded by an adequate investigation?]

The articles published in 1985 in 9 journals (3 of Internal Medicine, 3 of Pediatrics and 3 of Clinical Pharmacology) are revised with the purpose of studying: a) Number of clinical trials published. b) Number of clinical trials published accomplished in children. Among the 533 trials published, 102 were done in children. The type of trial done is studied based on the methodology used, if healthy volunteers are included, if pharmacokinetics studies were done, the ages of the subjects, the number of subjects included, the sex and the way of obtaining the informed consent.