Melatonin improves abdominal pain in irritable bowel syndrome patients who have sleep disturbances: a randomised, double blind, placebo controlled study.
OBJECTIVE
Melatonin, a sleep promoting agent, is involved in the regulation of gastrointestinal motility and sensation. We aimed to determine if melatonin was effective in improving bowel symptoms and sleep disturbances in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients with sleep disturbance.


METHODS
Forty IBS patients (aged 20-64 years; 24 female) with sleep disturbances were randomly assigned to receive either melatonin 3 mg (n = 20) or matching placebo (n = 20) at bedtime for two weeks. Immediately before and after the treatment, subjects completed bowel, sleep, and psychological questionnaires, and underwent rectal manometry and overnight polysomnography.


RESULTS
Compared with placebo, melatonin taken for two weeks significantly decreased mean abdominal pain score (2.35 v 0.70; p<0.001) and increased mean rectal pain threshold (8.9 v -1.2 mm Hg; p<0.01). Bloating, stool type, stool frequency, and anxiety and depression scores did not significantly differ after treatment in both groups. Data from sleep questionnaires and polysomnography showed that the two week course of melatonin did not influence sleep parameters, including total sleep time, sleep latency, sleep efficiency, sleep onset latency, arousals, duration of stages 1-4, rapid eye movement (REM) sleep, and REM onset latency.


CONCLUSIONS
Administration of melatonin 3 mg at bedtime for two weeks significantly attenuated abdominal pain and reduced rectal pain sensitivity without improvements in sleep disturbance or psychological distress. The findings suggest that the beneficial effects of melatonin on abdominal pain in IBS patients with sleep disturbances are independent of its action on sleep disturbances or psychological profiles.
Song
G H
GH
Department of Medicine, National University of Singapore. mdchoky@nus.edu.sg
Leng
P H
PH
Gwee
K A
KA
Moochhala
S M
SM
Ho
K Y
KY
D015746:Abdominal Pain / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D000328:Adult; D003672:Defecation / Q000502:physiology; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D043183:Irritable Bowel Syndrome / Q000150:complications / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008550:Melatonin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008875:Middle Aged; D017286:Polysomnography / Q000379:methods; D011312:Pressure; D012007:Rectum / Q000503:physiopathology; D012684:Sensory Thresholds / Q000502:physiology; D012890:Sleep / Q000187:drug effects; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology
D008550:Melatonin