Omega-3 fatty acids for the treatment of depressive disorders in children and adolescents: a meta-analysis of randomized placebo-controlled trials

Table 1 Characteristics of the four included studies

Study	Country	N^a	Male (%)	Age group (mean)	Disease	Severity	Diagnostic criteria	O3FAs daily dosage (g/d)	EPA daily dosage (g/d)	Ratio of EPA:DHA	Duration (weeks)	Rating scale	End-point scores		Jadad score^e
Study	Country	N^a	Male (%)	Age group (mean)	Disease	Severity	Diagnostic criteria	O3FAs daily dosage (g/d)	EPA daily dosage (g/d)	Ratio of EPA:DHA	Duration (weeks)	Rating scale	O3FAs arm	Placebo arm	Jadad score^e
Fristad 2016 [27]	USA	36 (18/18)	61.1	7–14 y (11.7)	Depressive disorder	Mild to moderate	DSM-IV-TR	1.9	1.4	7:1	12	CDRS-R	31.0 ± 9.0	31.0 ± 11.0	5
Gabbay 2018 [28]	USA	51 (24/27)	41.7	12–19 y (16.1)	MDD	Moderate to severe	DSM-IV-TR	3.4^b	2.3^c	2:1	10	CDRS-R	36.5 ± 10.0	35.2 ± 10.6	4
Nemet 2006 [29]	Israel	28 (13/15)	75.0	6–12 y (10.1)	MDD	Severe	K-SADS	1	0.4 or 0.38^d	2:1	16	CDRS	32.0 ± 20.5	53.6 ± 20.5	2
Trebaticka 2017 [30]	Slovakia	38 (19/19)	21.1	11–17 y (15.6)	Depressive disorder or mixed anxiety and depressive disorder	Moderate to severe	ICD-10	2.4	1	1.33:1	12	CDI	20.5 ± 11.8	20.3 ± 10.5	4

CDI Children’s Depression Inventory, CDRS-R Children’s Depression Rating Scale-Revised, DHA docosahexaenoic acid, DSM-IV-TR Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, text revision of the 4th version, EPA eicosapentaenoic acid, ICD International Classification of Diseases, K-SADS Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia, the kiddie version, MDD major depressive disorder, NR not reported, y years
^aThe number of patients who were assigned randomly
^bMean end daily dosage of O3FA
^cMean end daily dosage of EPA
^dThere are two different doses of capsules, one of which was 0.5 g containing 0.19 g EPA and the other one was 1 g containing 0.4 g EPA
^eThe Jadad total score 1–3 indicates low quality, 4–7 indicates high quality

ISSN: 1753-2000