It is estimated that 25 % of children suffer from sleeping disorders. This is worrying as sleep is essential for children's health and is required for normal development of both body and brain. When changes in sleep hygiene are not sufficient to improve sleep, there is a need for pharmacological options. One of those is to use the endogenous substance melatonin, which for instance controls the body's sleep/wake phases. In Sweden the use of exogenous melatonin as a hypnotic for children has increased significantly in recent years. The aim of this study was to examine the existing evidence for the use of melatonin in children with sleeping disorders. In this literature review clinical studies, in which melatonin's efficacy in children with sleeping disorders is evaluated, have been analyzed. The studies were found by searching the data base PubMed. Earlier sleep onset, shortened sleep onset latency, extended total sleep time and an earlier DLMO (dim light melatonin onset, the time when plasma melatonin levels reaches 10 pg/ml) were endpoints used in the majority of the studies. Most of the results for these sleep-specific parameters show a statistically significant improvement in melatonin treated subjects compared with placebo treatment. This is also confirmed by results from questionnaires. No dose-response relationship was found from analysis of the studies. Overall, the results show that melatonin has a good effect on sleeping disorders and that adverse effects that occur are mild. The conclusion is that there is strong evidence for the use of melatonin for sleepingdisorders in children and that the increased use of melatonin can be motivated by this.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:lnu-62004 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Reineborn, Annefrid |
| Publisher | Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för kemi och biomedicin (KOB) |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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