Psychology paper about Melatonin in Children and Adolescents with Insomnia: A Retrospective Study

Essay by elitetranUniversity, Bachelor'sA+, May 2004

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TITLE: Melatonin in Children and Adolescents with Insomnia: A Retrospective Study

Ivanenko, A, Crabtree, V.M., Tauman, R., Gozal, D.

PURPOSE: A similar study done by Smits showed that doses of melatonin demonstrated its effectiveness on wise healthy children with chronic insomnia. Therefore Ivanenko conducted a retrospective study to examine the potential benefits of melatonin in adolescents and children with chronic sleep onset and maintenance insomnia.

HYPOTHESIS: Ivanenko et al. predicted there would be positive results with controlled dosages of melatonin in children and adolescents with chronic sleep initiation and sleep maintenance problems.

METHOD: The experimental group consisted of 32 children and adolescents receiving clinical care in the Kosair Children's Hospital Pediatric Sleep Medicine and Apnea Center in Louisville, Kentucky. The average age of the sample ranged from 2 to 18 years of age with 24 girls and 8 boys. Melatonin, a neurohormone that is secreted from the pineal gland and is usually secreted during times of nocturnal sleep will be administered to the experimental group.

The average dose of melatonin given to the group was between 0.3 to 6 milligrams and was routinely administered 1 hour before bedtime. All children and families received tips on sleep hygiene. These children went thru a thorough clinical evaluation by a sleep medicine specialist consisting of interviews with the parents and the child. In all patients, the parents and caregivers were asked to keep sleep logs, in which the bedtimes, rise times, and nocturnal awakenings were documented. Sleep logs were kept and analyzed for the primary outcomes of sleep latency, night awakenings, and sleep duration.

FINDINGS: The results of this study were as follows: Twenty-nine children responded favorably to melatonin with improvement of in sleep initiation and sleep continuity symptoms. Of the 32 patients, 24 suffered from sleep onset insomnia, 2 had sleep cycle...