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Pooled review (meta-analysis)

Pooled review of 19 studies: melatonin cut time to fall asleep by 7.06 minutes

Ferracioli-Oda and colleagues · PloS one · 2013

Original title: Meta-analysis: melatonin for the treatment of primary sleep disorders.

Under review. A person has not yet checked this summary against the paper. It is written from the PubMed abstract. Until a person checks it, search engines are asked not to list this page.

What the study found

Points to benefit

Melatonin cut time to fall asleep by 7.06 minutes [95% CI 4.37 to 9.75] and added 8.25 minutes [95% CI 1.74 to 14.75] of sleep. Sleep quality scores improved (SMD = 0.22).

The study at a glance

Type of study
Pooled review (meta-analysis)
Who or what was studied
19 studies, 1,683 people · adults and children with primary sleep disorders
What was tested
Melatonin vs placebo
What it measured
The question itself: sleep, and safety with long-term use
Who has a stake
Company stake
Partly funded by Eli Lilly research fellowship and award; authors say no patents or products to declare.
Journal
PloS one, 2013
Source
PubMed record 23691095. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Pools the results of 19 studies with 1,683 people.
  • •A pooled review is only as strong as the studies it pools.
  • ✓Measured the question itself: sleep, and safety with long-term use.
  • –Company stake: Partly funded by Eli Lilly research fellowship and award; authors say no patents or products to declare.
  • •Summarized from the PubMed abstract only. The full paper may hold details the abstract leaves out.

✓ Strength– Limit• Note

These points come from fixed rules about the type of study, its size and length, what it measured, and who has a stake. Every study on Digestery gets the same rules.

Where this study sits

This paper is not on the ladder. It is a pooled review (meta-analysis), and reviews and opinion pieces discuss studies that are already counted on the steps below.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: sleep onset and sleep quality

    8

    2 benefit, 2 mixed, 4 no difference

  2. Trials in people: other measures

    2

    1 benefit, 1 no difference

  3. Trials in people: lab tests or safety

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  4. Population studies

    0

    None among the papers we read.

  5. Blood levels and genes

    0

    None among the papers we read.

↓ Weaker evidence

  • Points to benefit
  • Mixed
  • No difference
  • No direction
  • Points to harm

How it fits with the other research

The short answer to “Does melatonin help you sleep?”

A small effect, clearer in children.

Confidence: low. Based on 20 on-topic papers.

Read the full answer
  • Quoted in “What we found”: A 2013 review of 19 studies (1683 people) found melatonin cut time to fall asleep by 7.06 minutes and added 8.25 minutes of sleep versus placebo.
  • Part of the finding “Falling asleep: a few minutes faster”.
  • Marked as a key paper in the research timeline: 2013 review: minutes faster to fall asleep.

Other reviews on this question

See all 20 studies on this question

How this page was made

Label

First read of the abstract
Claude Sonnet
Independent second read
Claude Haiku
Differences settled
The two reads agreed on every checked field. Claude Opus 5.5.
Headline
Claude Sonnet, from the checked study record. A script checked its numbers and wording.
Numbers
Checked against the abstract by a script
“How much this study counts”
Fixed rules, the same for every study
Source check by a person
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