Clinical research in children

Clinical research is the crucial process that provides justification for the translation of practical experience and related scientific knowledge into clinical practice standards. In recent decades, increased understanding of physiology and disease processes, improved technologies for diagnostic tools, and a wider range of potential treatment modalities has led to an increased need for credible clinical research. However, a lack of commensurate increases in clinical research funding and trainingcoupledwith increased regulationof clinical research activities, largely warranted in the interest of protecting human rights, has worked against fulfillment of thisneed.Nonetheless, therehasbeenanear-exponential growth in citations related to clinical trials and randomized clinical trials over the past four decades, as shown in Figure 1.