Background: There was a 20-fold increase in the number of systematic reviews (SRs) published between 2000 and 2019 (1). In child and adolescent mental health, an umbrella review identified 104 meta-analyses and network meta-analyses on the effects of an extensive number of interventions (2). But to our knowledge, there is no review mapping the overall production of SRs in child and adolescent mental health (CAMHW).
Objectives: We have developed and maintained an open access database (IN SUM: insum.no) indexing all systematic reviews in CAMHW published from 2000 onward. Our objective is to employ this unique literature set to map SR production in CAMHW in the past 2 decades.
Methods: We run systematic searches in multiple databases monthly. We include SRs on interventions intended to a) prevent, treat, or alleviate mental health or welfare problems or b) enhance mental health, well-being, and development in children and adolescents aged 0 to 18 years. Additionally, we include any interventions relevant for child welfare services. Abstracts and full texts are screened, categorized, and included in the database. The identified literature will be described using characteristics such as authors, publication year, interventions studied, diagnosis/problem, age groups, and intervention level.
Results: We identified 2,456 included SRs in CAMHW, published from 2000 until February 2023. Our analyses will present descriptive statistics on the characteristics outlined above.
Conclusions: We will show publication patterns, describe review overlaps, and identify potential research directions for academics and practitioners and point to a valuable source of systematic reviews in CAMHW.
Patient, public and/or healthcare consumer involvement: None. Relevance to patients: Pointing to areas in need of research and making evidence on treatment effects available. References 1. Hoffmann F, Allers K, Rombey T, Helbach J, Hoffmann A, Mathes T, et al. Nearly 80 systematic reviews were published each day: Observational study on trends in epidemiology and reporting over the years 2000-2019. Journal of Clinical Epidemiology. 2021;138:1-11. 2. Correll CU, Cortese S, Croatto G, Monaco F, Krinitski D, Arrondo G, et al. Efficacy and acceptability of pharmacological, psychosocial, and brain stimulation interventions in children and adolescents with mental disorders: an umbrella review. World Psychiatry. 2021;20(2):244-75.