title: Different treatment benefits were estimated by clinical trials performed in adults compared with those performed in children.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Our main objective was to see whether the therapeutic benefit observed in placebo controlled randomized controlled trials (RCTs) is different between adults and children.
  
  
  METHODS
  We searched three electronic databases for meta-analyses that included double-blind, placebo-controlled RCTs with separate results for adults and children. The selected reviews were classified according to disease and drug used. The heterogeneity of treatment response between adults and children was measured using ratio of odds ratios (RORs).
  
  
  RESULTS
  We selected 89 meta-analyses and calculated RORs for 124 drugs. Heterogeneity in the direction of the treatment effect was observed in one drug and heterogeneity in the quantity of the treatment effect for 13 drugs, indicating significantly different treatment effect in adults when compared with children. RORs were not significantly different from 1 for 110 drugs. For 36 of these drugs, the treatment effect was confirmed in both populations.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We found different treatment benefits estimated by clinical trials performed in adults compared with those performed in children for 14 of 124 drugs. Data on dose adjustment and child age groups from RCTs were not adequately reported to investigate their influence on the treatment benefit dissimilarities.
authors.affiliation: UMR 5558 CRNS Lyon, University of Lyon 1, France.
authors.forename: Perrine
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Janiaud
authors.affiliation: Clinical Investigation Center, EPICIME, INSERM CIC 1407/UMR 5558 CNRS, Bron, France.
authors.forename: Audrey
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lajoinie
authors.affiliation: Clinical Investigation Center, EPICIME, INSERM CIC 1407/UMR 5558 CNRS, Bron, France.
authors.forename: Fleur
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cour-Andlauer
authors.affiliation: UMR 5558 CRNS Lyon, University of Lyon 1, France; Clinical Investigation Center, EPICIME, INSERM CIC 1407/UMR 5558 CNRS, Bron, France; Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Lyon, France.
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Cornu
authors.affiliation: UMR 5558 CRNS Lyon, University of Lyon 1, France; Department of Pediatric Nephrology, Hopital Femme Mere Enfant, Lyon, France.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cochat
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Lyon, France.
authors.forename: Michel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cucherat
authors.affiliation: UMR 5558 CRNS Lyon, University of Lyon 1, France; Clinical Investigation Center, EPICIME, INSERM CIC 1407/UMR 5558 CNRS, Bron, France.
authors.forename: François
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gueyffier
authors.affiliation: UMR 5558 CRNS Lyon, University of Lyon 1, France; Clinical Investigation Center, EPICIME, INSERM CIC 1407/UMR 5558 CNRS, Bron, France; Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Hospices Civils de Lyon, Lyon, France. Electronic address: behrouz.kassai-koupai@chu-lyon.fr.
authors.forename: Behrouz
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Kassai
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D002648:Child; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D006801:Humans; D016896:Treatment Outcome
keywords: Adults; Data reporting; Extrapolation; Meta-epidemiological study; Pediatrics; Treatment benefit