A Multicenter, Placebo-controlled Trial of Melatonin for Sleep Disturbance in Alzheimer's Disease
Abstract
OBJECTIVES: To determine the safety and efficacy of 2 dose formulations of melatonin for the treatment of insomnia in patients with Alzheimer's disease. DESIGN: A multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial of 2 dose formulations of oral melatonin coordinated by the National Institute of Aging-funded Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study. Subjects with Alzheimer's disease and nighttime sleep disturbance were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 treatment groups: placebo, 2.5-mg slow-release melatonin, or 10-mg melatonin. SETTING: Private homes and long-term care facilities. PARTICIPANTS: 157 individuals were recruited by 36 Alzheimer's disease research centers. Subjects with a diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease were eligible if they averaged less than 7 hours of sleep per night (as documented by wrist actigraphy) and had 2 or more episodes per week of nighttime awakenings reported by the caregiver. MEASUREMENTS: Nocturnal total sleep time, sleep efficiency, wake-time after sleep onset, and day-night sleep ratio during 2- to 3-week baseline and 2-month treatment periods. Sleep was defined by an automated algorithmic analysis of wrist actigraph data. RESULTS: No statistically significant differences in objective sleep measures were seen between baseline and treatment periods for the any of the 3 groups. Nonsignificant trends for increased nocturnal total sleep time and decreased wake after sleep onset were observed in the melatonin groups relative to placebo. Trends for a…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a randomized trial, done in people. Its evidence level is 2 of 5 (High · randomized trial). Randomized trials of a reasonable size are the strongest single-study design. Reported size: 157 participants or records.
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