Sw. Wright et al., RANDOMIZED CLINICAL-TRIAL OF MELATONIN AFTER NIGHT-SHIFT WORK - EFFICACY AND NEUROPSYCHOLOGIC EFFECTS, Annals of emergency medicine, 32(3), 1998, pp. 334-340
Objective: Melatonin has received considerable publicity for its sleep
-promoting properties; however, there is little scientific evidence of
its efficacy. The objective of this study is to determine whether the
re are measurable beneficial effects from exogenous melatonin in emerg
ency physicians after intermittent night-shift duty. Methods: This ran
domized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, crossover trial was conduct
ed in the emergency department of an urban tertiary care hospital. Fif
teen emergency physicians were given melatonin 5 mg or placebo for 3 c
onsecutive nights after night-shift duty with crossover to the opposit
e agent after a subsequent block of night shifts. The primary outcome
measure was the global assessment of recovery measured by a visual ana
log scale. Secondary outcome measures included sleep quality, duration
, and tiredness. In addition, the Profile of Mood States questionnaire
and neuropsychologic testing were performed. Results: There was no di
fference between melatonin and placebo in the global assessment of rec
overy (60.4+/-16.9 and 58.9+/-14.5, respectively; P=.29). There were n
o differences in sleep quality, duration or tiredness scores, sleep la
tency, hours of sleep obtained per night, and night or early awakening
at any measurement point. Profile of Mood States and neuropsychologic
test performances were similar. Conclusion: We found no beneficial ef
fect of melatonin on sleep quality, tiredness, or cognitive function i
n emergency physicians after night-shift duty. Our results suggest tha
t exogenous melatonin is of limited value in recovery from night-shift
work in emergency physicians.