Korean J Psychosom Med.
2018 Dec;26(2):112-118. 10.22722/KJPM.2018.26.2.112.
Melatonin for Treatment of Delirium in Hospitalized Patients : Retrospective Trial
- Affiliations
-
- 1Department of Psychiatry, Kyung Hee University Hospital, Seoul, Korea. paikjw@khu.ac.kr
- KMID: 2437562
- DOI: http://doi.org/10.22722/KJPM.2018.26.2.112
Abstract
OBJECTIVES
Delirium is one of the most common mental illnesses that can affect cognitive function. Melatonin has been shown to be effective in the treatment of insomnia, and recent studies have shown a protective effect to prevent delirium. This study was conducted to investigate the efficacy of melatonin in delirium patients.
METHODS
All patients were referred to psychiatric department for insomnia and symptoms of delirium, and were diagnosed delirium by the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria. We compared base line severity of delirium with K-DRS-R-98-R (Korean version of Delirium Rating Scale revised 98) and after taking 2mg of melatonin, retrospectively. The side effects were also identified by referring to the medical records.
RESULTS
A total 21 patients had taken melatonin for insomnia and delirious symptoms. The K-DRS-R-98 scores were decreased from 15.24±2.64 before treatment to 6.57±5.42 after treatment. And CGI-S scores were also decreased from 4.14±0.48 before treatment to 2.81±0.93 after treatment (p < 0.05).
CONCLUSIONS
This study illustrates the possibility of melatonin as an effective treatment option for delirious symptoms such as disorientation, motor agitation, lability of affect and hallucinations as well as insomnia, with less concerns of drug side effect. Further study with a larger sample and prospective design will be required to confirm these results.
