The Effectiveness of Suvorexant Compared to a Placebo in the Treatment of Insomnia and Sleep Disorders: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomised Controlled Trials
Abstract
Sleeplessness or insomnia is another type of sleep disorder and is prevalent in a large part of the global population which interferes with normal daily activities and overall quality of life. Some of the treatments are directed to neurotransmitter systems such as GABA and melatonin receptor sites. Suvorexant, a recently developed orexin receptor antagonist, is a promising pharmacotherapeutic target; however the superiority over placebo of suvorexant deserves further investigation.
An extensive search of the bibliographic databases was done using the web sources such as PubMed, Scopus, Web of science, Cochrane and Google Scholar. Informed by the PICOT question, only RCTs based on peer-reviewed journal articles were collected, and only those that focused on suvorexant for insomnia patients specifically. Data analysis was carried out in R software version 4.2.2. Categorical data were presented using odds ratios (ORs) with 95% CIs for binary variables, while MDs with 95% CIs were used to compare the means of the four continuous variables at follow-up. Inter-study variability was determined using the Chi-square Cochrane test and the I-squared test. Publication bias was checked by Funnel plot and Egger’s regression test.
The meta-analysis analyzed five, RCTs all together enrolling 1, 540 participants. Suvorexant showed a statistically significant improvement in TST, with a mean difference of 32.07 units (95% CI: 27.Seventy to 36.26 P < 0.0001, and WASO compared with placebo was…
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