Meta-Analyses in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry: Getting Closer to Clinical Practice

Rigorously conducted meta-analyses provide evidence synthesis that has the potential to inform daily clinical decision making and development of clinical guidelines. In the past decade, there has been an increasing number of studies on pharmacologic and non-pharmacologic treatments for childhood and adolescent psychiatric disorders. Given this large body of research, busy clinicians might tend to rely on meta-analyses, rather than individual trials, to keep abreast of the evidence base supporting intervention strategies in child and adolescent psychiatry. Many meta-analyses focused on treatments for child and adolescent mental health problems have primarily addressed the question: Is treatment X more efficacious/effective (or safer) than the control condition? This is clearly an important starting point for clinicians when discussing with their patients and families the benefits and risks of treatment X, but clinicians need to know more. For instance, they might look for the evidence base to answer the following questions: Is treatment X the most efficacious and effective (or safest) option for my patient? When will treatment X likely start working? If the dose or intensity of the treatment does not seem to be effective, is it worthwhile to increase it? And if so, how?