SynthesisCanadian journal of anaesthesia = Journal canadien d'anesthesie2023
Effects of melatonin on postoperative sleep quality: a systematic review, meta-analysis, and trial sequential analysis.
Synthesis in Canadian journal of anaesthesia = Journal canadien d'anesthesie, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Review
- Exogenous Melatonin and Sleep Quality: A Scoping Review of Systematic Reviews.Journal of clinical pharmacology · 2026Review
- Melatonin-engineered MSCs-exosomes deliver USP4 to stabilise ARNTL and inhibit clock rhythmic ferroptosis for enhanced flap survival.Clinical and translational medicine · 2026Article
- Effect of linearly polarized light irradiation near stellate ganglion on postoperative sleep disorders in patients undergoing modified radical mastectomy of breast cancer.Perioperative medicine (London, England) · 2025Article
- Bruxism and Stress: Ultrasonographic Masseter Muscle Assessment and Salivary Melatonin-Cortisol Dynamics.Journal of oral rehabilitation · 2025Article
- Causes and Effects of Postoperative Sleep Disorders and Treatment Strategies for Preoperative, Intraoperative, and Postoperative Settings-A Narrative Review.Clocks & sleep · 2025Review
- Advances in the use of dexmedetomidine during the perioperative period to improve postoperative sleep quality in patients undergoing surgery.The Journal of international medical research · 2024Review
- Comparative evaluation of salivary melatonin levels in patients with bruxism: a case-control study.Biomarkers in medicine · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposePostoperative sleep disturbances are common. Although several studies have examined the effect of melatonin on postoperative sleep disturbances, the results have not reached any definitive conclusion. We sought to conduct a systematic review to compare the effects of melatonin and melatonin agonists on postoperative sleep quality with those of placebo or no treatment in adult patients who underwent surgery under general or regional anesthesia.
methodsWe searched MEDLINE, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, Embase, Web of Science, ClinicalTrials.gov, and the UMIN Clinical Trials Registry up to 18 April 2022. Randomized clinical trials examining the effects of melatonin or melatonin agonists in patients undergoing general or regional anesthesia with sedation for any surgery were eligible for inclusion. The primary outcome was sleep quality measured using a visual analog scale (VAS). The secondary outcomes were postoperative sleep duration, sleepiness, pain, opioid consumption, quality of recovery, and adverse events. A random-effects model was used to combine the results. We assessed study quality with the Cochrane Risk of Bias Tool version 2. We applied a trial sequential analysis to assess the precision of the combined results.
resultsEight studies (516 participants) were analyzed for sleep quality. Of those, four studies used only a short duration of melatonin, either on the night before and the day of surgery or only on the day of surgery. A random-effects meta-analysis showed that melatonin did not improve sleep quality measured by VAS compared with placebo (mean difference, -0.75 mm; 95% confidence interval, -4.86 to 3.35), with low heterogeneity (I
conclusionOur results indicate that melatonin supplementation does not improve postoperative sleep quality measured with the VAS compared with placebo in adult patients (GRADE: moderate). STUDY REGISTRATION: PROSPERO (CRD42020180167); registered 27 October 2022.
Indexed as
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What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.