Therapeutic Dilemma: Melatonin or not?
Savithiri Ratnapalan,
Michael Rieder
Other
Paediatrics & child health
2025
Disegno dello studio
- Tipo di studio
- review
- Popolazione
- Neurodivergent children with sleep disturbances and adults with jet lag; narrative review discussing melatonin therapy utility and evidence gaps
- Intervento
- Therapeutic Dilemma: Melatonin or not? low doses melatonin (unspecified); melatonin for jet lag (adults)
- Comparatore
- no treatment
- Esito primario
- sleep disturbances in neurodivergent children; jet lag in adults
- Direzione dell'effetto
- Positive
- Rischio di bias
- Unclear
Abstract
Sleep disturbances are common in childhood, especially among neurodivergent children. There are few proven therapeutic options. Melatonin is a hormone that is critical to the normal human sleep cycle. Melatonin therapy has been proven to be effective in adults with jet lag and there is emerging evidence that it may be of value when used in low doses for neurodivergent children. There is however no evidence that melatonin is of utility in addressing sleep problems in otherwise well children.
TL;DR
It is found that there is no evidence that melatonin is of utility in addressing sleep problems in otherwise well children.