Pros & Cons of Clinical Trials With Children

Children who participate in a clinical trial receive free treatment while helping researchers gain information that may eventually help other children. Clinical trials also place children at risk when treatments do not produce expected results. Parents would do well to consider the pros and cons of clinical trials before deciding to have a child participate.

Additional Medical Care

• Children who take part in clinical trials may benefit from the latest in medical technology. These children may receive medication, therapy and other treatment resources not available to the general public. While a child is participating in a clinical trial, she also receives additional physician care by one or more physicians. The physicians who monitor the clinical trial are among the best in their given field and have access to recent condition-specific information.

Financial Compensation

• Children who take part in clinical trials usually receive financial compensation. This compensation helps cover the costs associated with participating in the study. Receiving money in addition to free medication and treatment helps families who are having a hard time dealing with financial problems caused by a child's illness. Compensation for clinical trials vary, and children who take part in long-term studies that require a lot of monitoring usually receive the most money.

Inconvenient

• Clinical trials involving children are time-consuming and they often inconvenience a family. Before their child can take part in a clinical trial, the child's parents must complete questionnaires and interviews. The clinical trial physicians may request the child's medical records and ask to interview the child's past physicians. Once a child enters a clinical trial, he must attend monitoring appointments in addition to medical appointments unrelated to the clinical trial. The trial may also require the child to stay overnight at a research facility or she must adhere to strict physical or nutritional restrictions throughout the study..

Side Effects

• The treatments specialists research during a child's clinical trial are new and may have some side effects that may be short-term and long-term. Parents typically receive a list of common side effects before the trial, but researchers may not know all potential side effects.