Clinical Takeaway
Cannabinoids have been studied across a range of pediatric medical conditions, with the current evidence base drawing from over 270 studies including both interventional trials and observational data. The research landscape is actively evolving, which is why this review is designed as a “living” document that updates continuously as new findings emerge. Clinicians considering cannabinoid therapy in patients under 18 should weigh available efficacy and safety data carefully, as the evidence quality and depth vary considerably across conditions.
#2 Cannabinoids for Medical Purposes in Children: A Living Systematic Review.
Citation: Chhabra Manik et al.. Cannabinoids for Medical Purposes in Children: A Living Systematic Review.. Acta paediatrica (Oslo, Norway : 1992). 2025. PMID: 40437694.
Design: 5 Journal: 0 N: 2 Recency: 2 Pop: 3 Human: 1 Risk: 0
This living systematic review addresses a critical evidence gap by providing clinicians with continuously updated safety and efficacy data on cannabinoid use in the pediatric population, where clinical experience and rigorous trial evidence remain limited. The systematic synthesis of plant-derived and pharmaceutical cannabinoid studies enables evidence-based prescribing decisions in conditions where cannabinoids are being considered as therapeutic options for children. The living review methodology ensures that pediatric practitioners have access to emerging clinical trial data as it becomes available, supporting dynamic clinical decision-making in a rapidly evolving therapeutic area.
Methodological Considerations:
- Small sample — underpowered for subgroup analysis
Abstract: AIM: We developed a living systematic review (LSR) that will continuously map the safety and reported benefit data related to cannabinoid use for medical purposes in children. METHODS: MEDLINE, Embase, PsycInfo, and the Cochrane Library were searched from inception to April 2023. Studies involving at least one child 20% studies) in studies enrolling children were somnolence, diarrhoea, vomiting, and decreased appetite. CONCLUSION: These findings will continue to be updated to inform practice and reveal knowledge gaps for future research.
🧬 This living systematic review attempts to synthesize an emerging and heterogeneous literature on pediatric cannabinoid use, capturing 37,189 citations through April 2023, yet the very breadth of this search underscores a fundamental challenge: most pediatric cannabis evidence comes from small case series, observational studies, and epilepsy populations rather than rigorous randomized trials, making generalizable safety conclusions difficult. The authors appropriately frame this as a continuously updating resource rather than a definitive statement, which is prudent given rapidly evolving cannabis pharmacology, formulation variability, and the confounding effects of concurrent medications and comorbidities that plague this literature. Clinicians should recognize that “safety and reported benefit data” is not equivalent to efficacy data, and that parental or provider-reported improvement in conditions like anxiety or behavioral disorders lacks the specificity needed to distinguish therapeutic effect from placebo response or natural disease course. Until high-quality pediatric trials emerge in conditions beyond intractable epilepsy, evidence-based