A survey of the effects of ramelteon on benzodiazepine-dependence: Comparison between a ramelteon add-on group and a continuous benzodiazepine administration group.

A survey of the effects of ramelteon on benzodiazepine-dependence: Comparison between a ramelteon add-on group and a continuous benzodiazepine administration group. Asian J Psychiatr. 2018 Jun 07;36:20-24 Authors: Naono-Nagatomo K, Abe H, Araki R, Funahashi H, Takeda R, Taniguchi H, Ishida Y Abstract In general, long-term benzodiazepine hypnotics are prescribed for patients in whom it is difficult to reduce benzodiazepine hypnotics. Unlike benzodiazepine receptor (BZ)-mediated sleep agents, ramelteon induces quasi-natural physiological sleep owing to its mechanism of action. We conducted a survey of ramelteon and BZ-dependence in patients with insomnia. Study subjects were patients with insomnia (42 cases), who were divided into a ramelteon group (22 cases; administered 8 mg/day of ramelteon before sleep in addition to BZ) and a control group (20 cases; continually administered only BZs), with a mean disease duration of 11.3 ± 9.6 years. All data were analyzed using two-way repeated measures analysis of variance. A significant improvement in scores at Week 16 over those of Week 0 was observed in the ramelteon group when a questionnaire concerning BZ-dependence and withdrawal symptoms was used. A significant improvement in scores at Week 16 from those at Week 0 was also observed in the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index excerpt and in the Global Assessment of Functioning in the ramelteon group. The Wilcoxon rank-sum test showed tha...
Source: Asian Journal of Psychiatry - Category: Psychiatry Tags: Asian J Psychiatr Source Type: research