title: Melatonin improves sleep-wake patterns in psychomotor retarded children.
abstract: Five children with severe psychomotor retardation (mean age 8.2+/-3.6 years) and irregular sleep-wake patterns underwent 1 week of wrist actigraphic monitoring before and after treatment with 3 mg melatonin. Three underwent multiple measurements of urinary sulfatoxymelatonin levels. Urine sulfatoxymelatonin levels were abnormally low, without any significant day/night differences. Melatonin treatment increased nighttime sleep from 5.9+/-0.8 to 7.3+/-0.5 hours (paired t test, P<0.01) and sleep efficiency from 69.3%+/-6.2% to 88.3%+/-2.3% (P<0.01). Daytime sleep decreased from 3.2+/- 1.2 to 1.7+/-1.2 hours (P<0.05). Thus, no change in 24-hour total sleep time (9.1+/-1.5 vs. 9.0+/-1.6 hours) occurred. Administration of 3 mg melatonin to five severely psychomotor retarded children resulted in a significant improvement in their sleep-wake patterns.
authors.affiliation: Sleep Laboratory, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, Israel.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pillar
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Shahar
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Peled
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ravid
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lavie
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Etzioni
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002940:Circadian Rhythm / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008550:Melatonin / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000502:physiology / Q000652:urine; D017286:Polysomnography; D011596:Psychomotor Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D020178:Sleep Disorders, Circadian Rhythm / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: C054513:6-sulfatoxymelatonin; D008550:Melatonin