Cited by 209Epilepsy research and treatmentPharmaceutical studies and practicesStatistical Methods in Clinical Trials

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Children Are Not Just Small Adults: The Urgent Need for High-Quality Trial Evidence in Children

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Abstract

Terry Klassen and colleagues discuss a new study examining whether children and adults with drug-resistant partial epilepsy respond differently to antiepileptic drugs.

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Registry

Crossref · 10.1371/journal.pmed.0050172

Cites

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  • Of the included studies, 5 were pilot trials with insufficient power to detect small treatment effect sizes.

    “Of the included studies, 5 were pilot trials,37,38,39,40,43 with insufficient power to detect small treatment effect sizes.”

    From Safety Planning Interventions for Suicide Prevention in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2025) · cites this paper as [38]

    The 'Where to Go from Here' section warns that inadequately powered pediatric studies can fail to provide valid treatment-effect estimates. It does not identify five included studies as pilot trials or assess whether those trials could detect small treatment effects; its 'Epilepsy as a Case Study' section describes a different set of five pediatric trials. (LLM, conf=0.82)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Differential effectiveness of treatment by patient age has been noted for other interventions, including pharmacological treatments, with potentially harmful effects for pediatric populations.

    “A differential effectiveness of treatment by patient age has similarly been noted for other interventions, including pharmacological treatments, with potentially harmful effects for pediatric populations48,49”
  • Suicide ideation was designated as a primary outcome in zero studies and as a secondary outcome in 3 studies.

    “SI was designated as a primary outcome in zero studies and designated as a secondary outcome in 3 studies.35,38,40”

    From Safety Planning Interventions for Suicide Prevention in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2025) · cites this paper as [38]

    The Epilepsy as a Case Study section identifies seizure response as the primary outcome of the study it discusses, while Where to Go from Here discusses pediatric trial endpoints and safety monitoring. Searches for suicide or suicidal ideation and for the claimed primary- and secondary-outcome counts found no passage addressing them in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.76)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • In controlled trials with children and adolescents, control conditions were often vaguely defined and sometimes involved elements of safety planning to varying degrees, although results were consistent whether these studies were removed or included.

    “In controlled trials with children and adolescents,35,38,39,40,42,43,44 control conditions were often vaguely defined and sometimes involved elements of safety planning to varying degrees, although results were consistent whether these studies were removed (Figure 2) or included (eFigure in Supplement 1).”

    From Safety Planning Interventions for Suicide Prevention in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis (2025) · cites this paper as [38]

    Split into 2 atoms — 0 confirmed, 0 partially supported, 0 disputed, 0 misattributed, 2 unverifiable. Expand the claim to see per-atom verdicts.

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

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Citations

Cites

No references could be resolved yet.

Research works printed but not linked: 17

  1. Conroy, 2000, BMJ, 320, 79
  2. 't Jong, 2000, N Engl J Med, 343, 1125
  3. Cramer, 2005, BMC Pediatr, 5, 38
  4. Kearns, 2003, N Engl J Med, 349, 1157
  5. Caldwell, 2004, Lancet, 364, 803
  6. Johnson, 2003, Toxicology, 192, 37
  7. Garson, 1987, Pediatrics, 79, 84
  8. Bosch, 2005, Science, 309, 1799
  9. Steinbrook, 2002, N Engl J Med, 347, 1462
  10. Benjamin, 2006, JAMA, 296, 1266
  11. Boots, 2007, Eur J Pediatr, 166, 849
  12. Rheims, 2008, PLoS Med, 5, e166
  13. Gidding, 2007, JAMA, 298, 1214
  14. Cohen, 2007, J Clinical Epidemiol, 60, 118
  15. Martinez-Castaldi, 2008, Pediatrics, 122, 52
  16. Sammons, 2008, Acta Pediatr, 97, 474
  17. Altman, 1994, BMJ, 308, 283

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Metadata

Authors
Klassen, T. P., Hartling, L., Craig, J. C., & Offringa, M.
Affiliations
  • University of Alberta (CA)
  • The University of Sydney (AU)
  • Amsterdam UMC Location University of Amsterdam (NL)
Corresponding author
Klassen, Terry P
Venue
PLoS Medicine
Published
2008-08-12
Volume
5
Issue
8
Pages
e172
ISSN
  • 1549-1277 (ISSN-L)
  • 1549-1676
OpenAlex
W2133984258
Cited by
209
References
17
Citations by year
2026: 11 · 2025: 9 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 17 · 2022: 13 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 9 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 10 · 2017: 19 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 13 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 12
FWCI
7.96
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • PLoS Medicine (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Pure Amsterdam UMC (publishedVersion)
  • Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
  • RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Clinical Neurology › Epilepsy research and treatment
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Pharmaceutical studies and practices
  • Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Statistics and Probability › Statistical Methods in Clinical Trials
Keywords
pediatric clinical trials, drug-resistant epilepsy, focal epilepsy, antiepileptic drugs, children versus adults, epilepsy treatment
MeSH terms
Adult, Child, Clinical Trials as Topic, Epilepsy, Humans, Placebos

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