OBJECTIVETo evaluate the clinical efficacy and safety of aripiprazole in the treatment of childhood tic disorders (TD) by a meta analysis.

METHODSA systematic search for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) on the efficacy and safety of aripiprazole in the treatment of childhood TD that were published between January 2000 and August 2014 was conducted. A Meta analysis on the selected RCTs was conducted using Review Manager 5.2 software.

RESULTSSix RCTs involving 551 TD patients were enrolled. There were no significant differences in the efficacy between aripiprazole and traditional drugs for treatment of TD either by the end of follow-up visit or at 2 weeks, 4 weeks and 8 weeks after treatment. The subgroup analysis results indicated that aripiprazole had the same efficacy for the treatment of TD as traditional drug haloperidol. Aripiprazole had a lower incidence of extrapyramidal reactions than haloperidol (P<0.05), but the overall incidence of side effects of aripiprazole was not lower than traditional drugs for treatment of TD.

CONCLUSIONSThe available evidence suggests that aripiprazole has the same curative effect in the treatment of childhood TD compared with the traditional drugs. However, it is difficult to draw a firm conclusion that aripiprazole is a safer drug in the treatment of childhood TD.