Premium
Meta‐analysis of randomized, controlled treatment trials for pediatric obsessive‐compulsive disorder
Author(s) -
Watson Hunna J.,
Rees Clare S.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of child psychology and psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.652
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1469-7610
pISSN - 0021-9630
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2007.01875.x
Subject(s) - pharmacotherapy , randomized controlled trial , meta analysis , obsessive compulsive , psychology , cognitive behavioral therapy , psychiatry , medicine , clinical psychology
Objective: To conduct a meta‐analysis on randomized, controlled treatment trials of pediatric obsessive‐compulsive disorder (OCD). Method: Studies were included if they employed randomized, controlled methodology and treated young people (19 years or under) with OCD. A comprehensive literature search identified 13 RCTs containing 10 pharmacotherapy to control comparisons ( N = 1016) and five cognitive‐behavioral therapy (CBT) to control comparisons ( N = 161). Results: Random effects modeling yielded statistically significant pooled effect size (ES) estimates for pharmacotherapy (ES = .48, 95% CI = .36 to .61, p < .00001) and CBT (ES = 1.45, 95% CI = .68 to 2.22, p = .002). The results were robust to publication bias. Conclusions: This is the first meta‐analysis of treatment RCTs for pediatric OCD. CBT and pharmacotherapy were the only treatments effective beyond control in alleviating OCD symptoms. CBT showed a greater ES than pharmacotherapy. Previous meta‐analyses that included uncontrolled trials exaggerated the efficacy of both treatments.