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Melatonin use improves atopic dermatitis, sleep-onset latency in pediatric, adolescent patients
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Patients who received melatonin had improved atopic dermatitis management and time to sleep-onset, according to recent research published in JAMA Pediatrics.
“Melatonin significantly improved the severity of dermatitis and reduced sleep-onset latency in children with [atopic dermatitis (AD)] and sleep disturbance,” Yung-Sen Chang, MD, MPH, from the department of pediatrics at Taipei City Hospital Renai Branch in Taipei, Taiwan, and colleagues wrote. “We recommend melatonin supplementation for these patients because it is a potentially safe and effective way to improve their sleep and skin condition simultaneously.”
Chang and colleagues evaluated 73 pediatric and adolescent patients aged between 1 year and 18 years with atopic dermatitis covering at least 5% of the skin area, according to the abstract. The researchers randomly assigned 48 children 1:1 either 3 mg per day melatonin or placebo for 4 weeks. Seventy-nine percent of these children completed the 2-week washout period and crossed over to alternative treatment for an additional 4 weeks.
Researchers used the Scoring Atopic Dermatitis (SCORAD) index to determine atopic dermatitis severity with a scoring range between 0 and 103 points — higher scores indicated a greater severity.
The researchers found the SCORAD index decreased by 9.1 points, from mean 49.1 points (SD = 24.3) to 40.2 points (SD = 20.9) after patients received melatonin, compared with patients in the placebo group (95% CI, –13.7 to –4.6), according to the abstract. The time to sleep onset in the melatonin group also improved by 21.4 minutes compared with the placebo group (95% CI, –38.6 to –4.2).
Chang and colleagues noted that the improvement in the SCORAD index did not correlate with the improvement in time to sleep onset, and that there were no adverse events reported throughout the study, according to the abstract. – by Jeff Craven
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.
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