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 clinical trials and observational reports. The research captures both plant-derived and pharmaceutical cannabinoid products used in patients under 18 years old. Safety and benefit data continue to be tracked through an ongoing living review process, meaning findings will be updated as new evidence emerges.
#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 establishes a critical evidence synthesis framework for cannabinoid use in pediatric populations, addressing a substantial gap in clinical knowledge where regulatory approval has outpaced rigorous safety data collection. The continuous mapping methodology enables clinicians to integrate emerging safety and efficacy evidence into prescribing decisions for conditions like refractory epilepsy and chemotherapy-induced nausea where cannabinoids are increasingly utilized off-label in children. Given the developing neurobiology of pediatric patients and potential long-term consequences of cannabinoid exposure, this systematic approach is essential for establishing evidence-based dosing guidelines and identifying vulnerable subpopulations at heightened risk for adverse effects.
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 provides a valuable synthesis of the sparse pediatric cannabinoid literature, identifying 37,189 citations to distill evidence on safety and efficacy—a timely effort given the clinical pressure many pediatricians face regarding cannabis requests from families. The heterogeneity of study designs, patient populations, dosing regimens, and outcome measures across pediatric cannabinoid research makes firm conclusions difficult, and most high-quality data remain limited to specific conditions like treatment-resistant epilepsy rather than broader pediatric applications. Important caveats include the lack of long-term follow-up data on neurodevelopmental outcomes, potential publication bias toward positive findings, and the challenge of separating pharmaceutical cannabinoid evidence from non-regulated plant-derived products that families may actually be using. Clinically, this review reinforces that while cannabinoids show promise for select pediatric indications—particularly severe seizure disorders—the evidence remains insufficient to recommend routine or off-label use in most pediatric conditions, and candid
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