Valerian does not appear to reduce symptoms for patients with chronic insomnia in general practice using a series of randomised n-of-1 trials.
OBJECTIVE
To investigate the effectiveness of valerian for the management of chronic insomnia in general practice.


METHODS
Valerian versus placebo in a series of n-of-1 trials, in Queensland, Australia.


RESULTS
Of 42 enrolled patients, 24 (57%) had sufficient data for inclusion into the n-of-1 analysis. Response to valerian was fair for 23 (96%) participants evaluating their "energy level in the previous day" but poor or modest for all 24 (100%) participants' response to "total sleep time" and for 23 (96%) participants' response to "number of night awakenings" and "morning refreshment". As a group, the proportion of treatment successes ranged from 0.35 (95% CI 0.23, 0.47) to 0.55 (95% CI 0.43, 0.67) for the six elicited outcome sleep variables. There was no significant difference in the number (P=0.06), distribution (P=1.00) or severity (P=0.46) of side effects between valerian and placebo treatments.


CONCLUSIONS
Valerian was not shown to be appreciably better than placebo in promoting sleep or sleep-related factors for any individual patient or for all patients as a group.
Coxeter
P D
PD
Herbal Medicines Research and Education Center, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Schluter
P J
PJ
Eastwood
H L
HL
Nikles
C J
CJ
Glasziou
P P
PP
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D002908:Chronic Disease; D018592:Cross-Over Studies; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008517:Phytotherapy; D010936:Plant Extracts / Q000627:therapeutic use; D018517:Plant Roots; D012107:Research Design; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*; D014632:Valerian
D010936:Plant Extracts