Comparison of Melatonin and Zolpidem for Sleep in an Academic Community Hospital: An Analysis of Patient Perception and Inpatient Outcomes.

Hospitalizations can significantly disrupt patient sleep patterns and contribute to insomnia, which places patients at a higher risk of altered mental status as well as other complications. Despite attempts to control environmental factors, deliriogenic medications are often prescribed for the management of hospital-related insomnia. The primary objective of this study is to compare patient-perceived effectiveness of zolpidem versus melatonin in hospitalized patients. All inpatients who received melatonin or zolpidem the previous night as asleep aid and had no acute psychological issues or history of substance abuse were eligible for participation in this single-center, prospective, observational cohort study. The Verran and Snyder-Halpern sleep scale was utilized to evaluate sleep perception in 3 domains: sleep disturbance, effectiveness, and supplementation. A total of 439 patients were screened and 100 patients met study criteria and consented to the study. In the melatonin and zolpidem groups, the estimated adjusted means for the total sleep effectiveness (206.8 mm, 95% confidence interval [CI], 168.7-253.5vs 187.4 mm, 95% CI, 152.8-229.7; P=.513), sleep disturbance(362.1 mm, 95% CI, 310.1-422.7 vs 339.54 mm, 95% CI, 290.8-396.4; P=.573), and sleep supplementation (111.4 mm, 95% CI, 86.3-143.8 vs 120.9 mm, 95% CI, 94.1-155.2; P=.661) domains were not statistically different. Both melatonin and zolpidem were well tolerated with grogginess and headache as the only reported adverse effects. Melatonin demonstrated no significant difference in patient-perceived sleep effectiveness, disturbance, supplementation, or adverse effects when compared to zolpidem.