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Randomized trial · measured the question itself

4-week melatonin trial in 60 adults with alcohol use disorder: no clear sleep difference

Gendy and colleagues · Scientific reports · 2020

Original title: Melatonin for Treatment-Seeking Alcohol Use Disorder patients with sleeping problems: A randomized clinical pilot trial.

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What the study found

No difference

PSQI sleep scores improved in both groups after 4 weeks, with no clear difference between melatonin 5 mg and placebo.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Randomized trial
Who or what was studied
60 people · adults seeking treatment for alcohol use disorder with sleep problems
What was tested
Melatonin 5 mg a day vs placebo for 4 weeks
What it measured
The question itself: sleep, and safety with long-term use
Daily amount
5 mg a day
How long
4 weeks
Who has a stake
Company stake
Senior author reports industry research funding and donated drugs from firms such as Canopy, Pfizer, Bioprojet, Alkermes; none named as melatonin maker.
Journal
Scientific reports, 2020
Source
PubMed record 32457492. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Randomized: people were put into groups by chance, so the groups start out alike.
  • ✓Compared with a placebo, a dummy treatment.
  • •Medium size: 60 people.
  • –Short: 4 weeks. Longer-term effects are unknown.
  • ✓Measured the question itself: sleep, and safety with long-term use.
  • –Company stake: Senior author reports industry research funding and donated drugs from firms such as Canopy, Pfizer, Bioprojet, Alkermes; none named as melatonin maker.
  • •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

Each dot is one on-topic paper on this question. Steps near the top answer the question more directly.

↑ Stronger evidence

  1. Trials in people: sleep onset and sleep quality

    8

    2 benefit, 2 mixed, 4 no difference

    ↑ This study is the ringed dot

  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

Of the other 7 papers on the same step: 2 benefit, 2 mixed, 3 no difference. This one found no difference.

  • Counted on the ladder, but not quoted in the page’s main findings.

Other papers on the same step

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 reviewer corrected 2 fields after reading the abstract. 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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