ReviewIntensive care medicine2006
Melatonin: possible implications for the postoperative and critically ill patient.
Review in Intensive care medicine, 2006. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 39 papers, 3 of them syntheses 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.
The Effect of Two Different General Anesthesia Regimes on Postoperative Sleep Quality
Melatonin Use in the Intensive Care Elderly Population
Who cites it
39 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 117 citations in OpenAlex.
- Melatonin for preoperative and postoperative anxiety in adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Melatonin-Measurement Methods and the Factors Modifying the Results. A Systematic Review of the Literature.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2020Pooled it
- Interventions for preventing delirium in hospitalised non-ICU patients.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2016Pooled it
- Melatonin for prevention of delirium in patients receiving mechanical ventilation in the intensive care unit: a multiarm multistage adaptive randomized controlled clinical trial (DEMEL).Intensive care medicine · 2025Trial
- Intraoperative Dexmedetomidine Infusion Improved Postoperative Sleep Quality and Melatonin Secretion in Patients Undergoing Elective Thoracoscopic Lung Surgery: A Prospective, Randomized Study.Nature and science of sleep · 2024Trial
- Effects of Patient-Directed Interactive Music Therapy on Sleep Quality in Postoperative Elderly Patients: A Randomized-Controlled Trial.Nature and science of sleep · 2020Trial
- Enteral versus intravenous approach for the sedation of critically ill patients: a randomized and controlled trial.Critical care (London, England) · 2019Trial
- Melatonin Pharmacological Blood Levels Increase Total Antioxidant Capacity in Critically Ill Patients.International journal of molecular sciences · 2017Trial
- Trial
- Trial
- Trial
- Melatonin therapy to improve nocturnal sleep in critically ill patients: encouraging results from a small randomised controlled trial.Critical care (London, England) · 2008Trial
- [Daylight therapy in intensive care units: a review].Medizinische Klinik, Intensivmedizin und Notfallmedizin · 2026Review
- Therapeutic Aspects of Melatonin-sirtuin Crosstalk: An Updated Review of Current Data Based on Cellular Mechanisms.Current drug targets · 2025Review
- Prophylactic Melatonin for Delirium in Intensive Care Unit: An Updated Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Indian journal of critical care medicine : peer-reviewed, official publication of Indian Society of Critical Care Medicine · 2023Review
- Melatonin as an immunomodulator in children with Down syndrome.Pediatric research · 2022Article
- Performance of Melatonin as Prophylaxis in Geriatric Patients with Multifactorial Risk for Postoperative Delirium Development: A Randomized Comparative Study.Turkish journal of anaesthesiology and reanimation · 2022Article
- Possible effects of melatonin on reperfusion injury following coronary artery bypass graft surgery.ARYA atherosclerosis · 2022Article
- The Role of Perioperative Sleep Disturbance in Postoperative Neurocognitive Disorders.Nature and science of sleep · 2021Review
- Sleep disturbance and delirium in patients with acromegaly in the early postoperative period after transsphenoidal pituitary surgery.Medicine · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
There is increasing interest in the hormone melatonin in postoperative and critically ill patients. The roles of melatonin in the regulation of the sleep-wake cycle, resetting of circadian rhythm disturbances and its extensive antioxidant activity have potential applications in these patient groups. The interaction between melatonin and the stresses of surgery and critical illness are explored in the context of circadian rhythms, sleep disorders and delirium. The antioxidant activity is discussed in terms of the reduction of ischaemic reperfusion injury, prevention of multi-organ failure and treatment of sepsis. Unfortunately, there is currently insufficient evidence that exogenous melatonin is effective in preventing or treating postoperative delirium. Similarly, in the critically ill patient, sleep disorders are associated with disrupted melatonin circadian secretion, but there is a paucity of data to support routine exogenous melatonin supplementation. More clinical evidence to confirm the potential benefits of melatonin therapy is required before it can be routinely used in the postoperative or critically ill patient.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion 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 OpenQuestion graph.