[Melatonin therapeutic use in psychiatry: a 39 year bibliographic study].
BACKGROUND
The therapeutic uses of melatonin in psychiatry are reviewed.


METHODS
Data source and search strategy: a 39 year period search covering a 39 year period (1966-2004) was carried out using Medline data base. The search strategy consisted in the combination of the key words ((mental disorders or psychiatry)) and ((melatonin and therapeutic use)). Two restrictive criteria were applied: a) selection of studies carried out in humans, and b) only randomized controlled trials were admitted


RESULTS
56 articles were found. Twelve were excluded because they were not directly related to the study aim. Melatonin was used in 44 articles related to different clinical conditions. It was used because of its hypnotic and/or resynchronizing actions in 93.2 % of the articles, while in 4.5 % of the articles melatonin was used due to its antioxidant properties.


CONCLUSIONS
The main use of melatonin as a therapeutic agent in psychiatry is in sleep disorders and its use in other psychiatric is minor.
Morera
A
A
Departamento de Medicina Interna. Facultad de Medicina. Universidad de La Laguna. Tenerife. Spain. amorera@ull.es
Henry
M
M
Abreu
P
P
Gracia
R
R
D006801:Humans; D008550:Melatonin / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*
D008550:Melatonin