Pharmacogenomics: an Update for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry

This paper aims to acquaint child and adolescent psychiatrists with the field of pharmacogenomics (PGX) and review the most up-to-date evidence-based practices to guide the application of this field in clinical care.

Despite much research being done in this area, the field of PGX continues to yield controversial findings. In the adult world, studies have focused on the impact of combinatorial gene panels that guide medication selection by providing reports that estimate the impact of multiple pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic genes, but to date, these have not been directly examined in younger patient populations. Pharmacokinetic genes, CYP2D6 and CYP2C19, and hypersensitivity genes, HLA-A and HLA-B, have the strongest evidence base for application to pharmacotherapy in children. Although the field is evolving, and the evidence is mixed, there may be a role for PGX testing in children to help guide dosing and monitoring strategies. However, evidence-based medicine, rather than PGX testing, continues to play the lead role in guiding medication selection in pediatric psychopharmacology.