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. 2003 Feb 14:3:1.
doi: 10.1186/1471-2431-3-1. Epub 2003 Feb 14.

Randomized controlled trials in pediatric complementary and alternative medicine: where can they be found?

Margaret Sampson  1 , Kaitryn Campbell, Isola Ajiferuke, David Moher
Affiliations

Randomized controlled trials in pediatric complementary and alternative medicine: where can they be found?

Margaret Sampson et al. BMC Pediatr. .

Abstract

Background: The safety and effectiveness of CAM interventions are of great relevance to pediatric health care providers. The objective of this study is to identify sources of reported randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in the field of pediatric complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).

Methods: Reports of RCTs were identified by searching Medline and 12 additional bibliographic databases and by reviewing the reference lists of previously identified pediatric CAM systematic reviews.

Results: We identified 908 reports of RCTs that included children under 18 and investigated a CAM therapy. Since 1965, there has been a steady growth in the number of these trials that are being published. The four journals that published the most reported RCTs are The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Pediatrics, Journal of Pediatrics, and Lancet. Medline, CAB Health, and Embase were the best database sources for identifying these studies; they indexed 93.2%, 58.4% and 42.2 % respectively of the journals publishing reports of pediatric CAM RCTs.

Conclusions: Those working or interested in the field of pediatric CAM should routinely search Medline, CAB Health and Embase for literature in the field. The four core journals identified above should be included in their collection.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Study flowchart. Note: For some reports, more than one exclusion criteria was noted, therefore numbers do not add up to 2061.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Growth rate in publication of Pediatric CAM RCT reports, 1965–1999. Note: A few journal articles published in 2000 and 2001 were indexed at the time our study. We have elected not to show them in this portrayal of the growth of the literature. The rate of publication seems to be dropping even in the final years shown here. We believe this to represent a lag between the time of publication and the time the journal articles are indexed in the bibliographic databases, rather than a true decline in the rate of publication of reports of randomized controlled trials in pediatric complementary and alternative medicine.
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