Clinical Takeaway
Cannabinoids have been studied across a wide range of pediatric medical conditions, with the current evidence base drawing from hundreds of studies including both interventional trials and real-world observational data. The review captures both potential benefits and safety signals, providing clinicians with a continuously updated resource rather than a static snapshot. Parents and providers considering cannabinoid therapies for children should weigh this growing but still evolving body of evidence carefully with a qualified clinician.
#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 provides the first comprehensive, continuously updated synthesis of safety and efficacy data for cannabinoid use in pediatric populations, addressing a critical evidence gap as clinical use expands despite limited pediatric safety data. By systematically mapping both plant-derived and pharmaceutical cannabinoids across diverse pediatric conditions, this resource enables clinicians to make informed prescribing decisions and identifies priority areas where high-quality randomized trials are needed. The living review methodology ensures that practitioners have access to emerging evidence in real-time, which is essential given the rapid pace of cannabinoid research and evolving regulatory frameworks for pediatric cannabis-based medicines.
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 represents a commendable effort to synthesize the limited evidence base for cannabinoid use in pediatric patients, capturing studies through April 2023 across multiple databases. The authors appropriately acknowledge that robust safety and efficacy data remain sparse in this population, with most evidence coming from small case series, observational studies, and extrapolations from adult trials rather than well-controlled pediatric randomized controlled trials. Critical caveats include substantial heterogeneity in cannabinoid formulations, dosing regimens, and outcome measures across included studies, as well as the inherent difficulty in controlling for confounders in real-world pediatric cannabis use where concurrent medications and underlying condition severity vary widely. While conditions like treatment-resistant epilepsy (particularly Dravet and Lennox-Gastaut syndromes) show more encouraging signals than others, clinicians should recognize that reported benefits often come from uncontrolled settings and may reflect placebo effects, natural disease fluctuation, or regression to the mean. For
| |