RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Clinical update: melatonin and sleep disorders
JF Clinical Medicine
JO Clin Med
FD Royal College of Physicians
SP 381
OP 383
DO 10.7861/clinmedicine.8-4-381
VO 8
IS 4
A1 Josephine Arendt
A1 Eus JW Van Someren
A1 Richard Appleton
A1 Debra J Skene
A1 Torbjorn Akerstedt
YR 2008
UL http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/8/4/381.abstract
AB The hormone melatonin is increasingly used for the treatment of certain sleep disorders, particularly those related to disturbed biological rhythms. This article summarises current knowledge of its mechanism of action and identifies situations where there is good evidence for its efficacy. The authors provide advice, based on their own experience and consistent published data, concerning the dose range of melatonin to be used and the critically important question of the timing of treatment. Anecdotal evidence for the use of melatonin needs to be replaced by data from well-controlled, preferably multi-centre, randomised clinical trials.