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Pooled review (meta-analysis)

Pooled review of 22 trials: prolonged-release melatonin helped adults with insomnia fall asleep faster

Maruani and colleagues · Journal of sleep research · 2023

Original title: Efficacy of melatonin and ramelteon for the acute and long-term management of insomnia disorder in adults: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

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

Prolonged-release melatonin cut self-reported time to fall asleep by 6.30 min and measured time by 5.05 min, and raised sleep efficiency by 1.91%. In studies with mean age 55 or older, sleep efficiency rose 2.95%.

The study at a glance

Type of study
Pooled review (meta-analysis)
Who or what was studied
22 studies, 4,875 people · adults with insomnia disorder (mostly prolonged-release melatonin trials)
What was tested
Prolonged-release melatonin or ramelteon vs placebo
What it measured
The question itself: sleep, and safety with long-term use
Who has a stake
No disclosure in PubMed
No disclosure in PubMed.
Journal
Journal of sleep research, 2023
Source
PubMed record 37434463. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Pools the results of 22 studies with 4,875 people.
  • •A pooled review is only as strong as the studies it pools.
  • ✓Measured the question itself: sleep, and safety with long-term use.
  • •The PubMed record has no conflict-of-interest statement.
  • •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”: In adults with insomnia, prolonged-release melatonin cut time to fall asleep by 6.30 minutes as people reported it and 5.05 minutes as measured; authors call these small to medium effects.
  • Part of the finding “Falling asleep: a few minutes faster”.
  • Part of the finding “Adults with insomnia: reviews disagree on any benefit”.
  • Summed up in “What reviews found”: Pooled 22 studies (4875 people, 925 on melatonin) of adults with insomnia. Prolonged-release melatonin cut time to fall asleep by 6.30 minutes self-reported and 5.05 minutes measured: small to medium effects.

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 reviewer corrected 1 field 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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