Home › Research › Digital health tools
Melatonin and bright-light treatment for rest-activity disruption in institutionalized patients with Alzheimer's disease
Dowling GA, Burr RL, Van Someren EJ, Hubbard EM, Luxenberg JS, Mastick J, Cooper BA.. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2007-12-07
Topic: Brain imaging, connectivity and assessment
Objectives To test whether the addition of melatonin to bright-light therapy enhances the efficacy in treating rest-activity (circadian) disruption in institutionalized patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Design Randomized, controlled trial. Setting Two nursing homes in San Francisco, California. Participants Fifty subjects (mean age 86) with AD. Intervention Experimental subjects received 1 hour of morning light exposure (> or = 2,500 lux in gaze direction) Monday to Friday for 10 weeks and 5 mg melatonin (LM, n=16) or placebo (LP, n=17) in the evening. Control subjects (n=17) received usual indoor light (150-200 lux). Measurements Nighttime sleep variables, day sleep time, day activity, day:night sleep ratio, and rest-activity parameters were determined using actigraphy. Results Linear mixed models were employed to test the primary study hypotheses. No significant differences in nighttime sleep variables were found between groups. At the end of the intervention, the LM group showed significant improvement in daytime somnolence as indicated by a reduction in the duration of daytime sleep, an increase in daytime activity, and an improvement in day:night sleep ratio. The LM group also evidenced a significant increase in rest-activity rhythm amplitude and goodness of fit to the cosinor model. Conclusion Light treatment alone did not improve nighttime sleep, daytime wake, or rest-activity rhythm. Light treatment plus melatonin increased daytime wake time and activity levels and strengthened the rest-activity rhythm. Future studies should resolve the question of whether these improvements can be attributed to melatonin or whether the two zeitgebers interact to amplify efficacy.
Key findings
- Results Linear mixed models were employed to test the primary study hypotheses.
- No significant differences in nighttime sleep variables were found between groups.
- At the end of the intervention, the LM group showed significant improvement in daytime somnolence as indicated by a reduction in the duration of daytime sleep, an increase in daytime activity, and an improvement in day:night sleep ratio.
- The LM group also evidenced a significant increase in rest-activity rhythm amplitude and goodness of fit to the cosinor model.
New to this subject? Start with our plain-English guide: Digital health →
Study details
- Participants16
- Evidence strengthHigh
How this study scored 70/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal, and it is a randomised controlled trial. Scored zero for effect reported because the record does not state it. We have no data on journal's citation record, times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record and institution's track record, so those were left out: it earned 43 of the 61 points we could judge it on, which is 70 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Journal of the American Geriatrics Society) |
| Journal's citation record | — / 4 | No journal record from OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Study design | 11 / 12 | A randomised controlled trial (from PubMed type “Randomized Controlled Trial”) |
| Strength of evidence | 5 / 5 | Rated “high” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 1 / 5 | 2008 — within 20 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 1 / 4 | 16 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 1 / 2 | Randomised (as stated in the record) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 2 / 3 | PubMed indexes it as a multicentre study |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 18070004) |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Points | 43 / 61 | Scored on 12 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 43 of the 61 points we could judge it on is 70 out of 100. |
| Total | 70 / 100 | — |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
Free copy unknown: no free-copy check has an answer for this record yet. That does not mean it is paywalled.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record names 7 authors; APA and Vancouver show the first six, BibTeX and the downloads carry all of them. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
APA 7th
Dowling, G. A., Burr, R. L., Van Someren, E. J., Hubbard, E. M., Luxenberg, J. S., Mastick, J., et al. (2008). Melatonin and bright-light treatment for rest-activity disruption in institutionalized patients with Alzheimer's disease. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-5415.2007.01543.x
Vancouver
Dowling GA, Burr RL, Van Someren EJ, Hubbard EM, Luxenberg JS, Mastick J, et al. Melatonin and bright-light treatment for rest-activity disruption in institutionalized patients with Alzheimer's disease. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. 2008. doi:10.1111/j.1532-5415.2007.01543.x. PMID: 18070004.
BibTeX
@article{dowling2008-18070004,
author = {Dowling, G. A. and Burr, R. L. and Van Someren, E. J. and Hubbard, E. M. and Luxenberg, J. S. and Mastick, J. and Cooper, B. A.},
title = {{Melatonin and bright-light treatment for rest-activity disruption in institutionalized patients with Alzheimer's disease}},
journal = {Journal of the American Geriatrics Society},
year = {2008},
doi = {10.1111/j.1532-5415.2007.01543.x},
pmid = {18070004},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1532-5415.2007.01543.x}
}
Related studies in Digital health tools
Also tagged “apnea”
196 studies in the library carry the topic tag “apnea”; these are this study's neighbours in a fixed, alphabetical-by-hash tour of them, not the closest in content. All 196 tagged studies.