title: [Benzodiazepine and nonbenzodiazepine hypnotics].
abstract: The prevalence of insomnia shows an age-associated increase. Especially, persons with age over 60 years frequently suffer from arousal during sleep and early-morning awakening. The reason of this phenomenon can be explained by age-related change in sleepwake regulation, comorbid diseases and psycho-social status. Benzodiazepine derivatives and benzodiazepine agonists have been widely used for treatment of insomnia. These GABA-A receptor agonist hypnotics have sedative effect, possibly causing various adverse events, i.e. falls and hip fracture, anterograde amnesia, next morning hangover especially in the elderly. When making a choice of treatment drugs for the elderly, low dose benzodiazepine hypnotics with relatively high Ω1-selectivity, and newer hypnotics including melatonic receptor agonist or orexin receptor antagonist can become important candidates considering their comorbid diseases or drug interaction with other medications.
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Yuichi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Inoue
mesh_terms: D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001569:Benzodiazepines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012890:Sleep / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives; D001569:Benzodiazepines