Summary of findings for the main comparison.

Antidepressants for the treatment of abdominal pain‐related functional gastrointestinal disorders in children and adolescents.
Patient or population: adolescents with newly diagnosed irritable bowel syndrome according to Rome II criteria Settings: Outpatients at private practice clinic Intervention: amitriptyline Comparison: placebo
Outcomes	Illustrative comparative risks* (95% CI)		Relative effect (95% CI)	No of Participants (studies)	Quality of the evidence (GRADE)	Comments
	Assumed risk	Corresponding risk
	[placebo]	[amitriptyline]
Patients' overall assessment of satisfactory relief [Overall, how do you feel your problem is? Answers: better, same, or worse] [4 weeks]	53% (95% CI not reported) of children reported feeling better	59% (95% CI not reported) of children reported feeling better (P not reported)	RR 1.12 (0.77, 1.63)	90 [1]	low1,2
Quality of life [IBS ‐ QOL Questionnaire] 13 weeks	The mean change of IBS‐QOL scores was 1.9 points (95% CI not reported) in the control group	The mean change of IBS‐QOL scores in the intervention groups was 16.8 points (95% CI not reported); 14.9 points higher than control group; P = 0.013		33 [1]	low1,2
Adverse events [methods of adverse effects assessment not reported]	2% (95% CI not reported) of children reported at least one adverse event	4% (95 CI not reported) of children reported at least one adverse event	RR 1.91 (0.18, 20.35)	90 [1]	very low1,2,3
*The basis for the assumed risk (e.g. the median control group risk across studies) is provided in footnotes. The corresponding risk (and its 95% confidence interval) is based on the assumed risk in the comparison group and the relative effect of the intervention (and its 95% CI). CI: Confidence interval; RR: Risk Ratio; IBS‐QOL: Irritable Bowel Syndrome‐Quality of Life scale;
GRADE Working Group grades of evidence High quality: Further research is very unlikely to change our confidence in the estimate of effect. Moderate quality: Further research is likely to have an important impact on our confidence in the estimate of effect and may change the estimate. Low quality: Further research is very likely to have an important impact on our confidence in the estimate of effect and is likely to change the estimate. Very low quality: We are very uncertain about the estimate.

¹Unclear risk of bias

² Imprecision of results

³ High probability of outcomes reporting bias