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Pooled review (meta-analysis)

Pooled review of 32 studies in intensive care: melatonin may improve sleep and delirium

Tang and colleagues · Critical care medicine · 2025

Original title: Melatonin Use in the ICU: 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

Melatonin may improve reported sleep quality (SMD 0.54; 95% CI, 0.01-1.07; low certainty) and may reduce delirium (RR 0.72). Adverse events may be slightly fewer (low certainty).

The study at a glance

Type of study
Pooled review (meta-analysis)
Who or what was studied
32 studies, 3,895 people · adults in intensive care units
What was tested
Melatonin vs no melatonin in the ICU
What it measured
Several kinds of outcomes
Who has a stake
Company stake
Funders listed are research bodies and unrelated firms (Ceribell, Dexcom); no melatonin maker named.
Journal
Critical care medicine, 2025
Source
PubMed record 40662882. This page is based on the abstract only.

How much this study counts

  • ✓Pools the results of 32 studies with 3,895 people.
  • •A pooled review is only as strong as the studies it pools.
  • •Measured several kinds of outcomes.
  • –Company stake: Funders listed are research bodies and unrelated firms (Ceribell, Dexcom); no melatonin maker named.
  • •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

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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