Open Access Commentary

Individual differences and evidence-based psychopharmacology

RH Belmaker*, Yuly Bersudsky and Galila Agam

Author Affiliations

Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Beersheva, Israel

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BMC Medicine 2012, 10:110 doi:10.1186/1741-7015-10-110

Published: 27 September 2012

Abstract

Individual differences in response to pharmacologic treatment limits the usefulness of mean data obtained from randomized controlled trials. These individual differences exist even in genetically uniform inbred mouse strains. While stratification can be of value in large studies, the individual patient history is the most effective currently available guide for personalized medicine in psychopharmacology.

Keywords:
Variance; clinical trials; individual differences; replicability; measurement error; variability