ReviewF1000Research2016
Hypnotic drug risks of mortality, infection, depression, and cancer: but lack of benefit.
Review in F1000Research, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05561829 (Determination of Optimal Sleep Treatment Elements), which is not on this map. Cited by 61 papers, 5 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.
Determination of Optimal Sleep Treatment Elements (The DOSE Project)
Who cites it
61 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Prescribed benzodiazepines and suicidal behaviors: a systematic review, meta-analysis, and clinical implications.BMC psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Efficacy of eHealth Versus In-Person Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Equivalence.JMIR mental health · 2024Pooled it
- Guideline
- Pooled it
- Assessment of Reported Comparative Effectiveness and Safety of Atypical Antipsychotics in the Treatment of Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia: A Network Meta-analysis.JAMA network open · 2019Pooled it
- Efficacy and Tolerability of a Chemically CharacterizedNutrients · 2025Trial
- A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study of respiratory safety of lemborexant in moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2024Trial
- A Closer Look at Yoga Nidra: Sleep Lab Protocol.International journal of yoga therapy · 2021Trial
- The effects of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus, pilot RCT part II: diabetes health outcomes.BMC endocrine disorders · 2020Trial
- Respiratory safety of lemborexant in healthy adult and elderly subjects with mild obstructive sleep apnea: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study.Journal of sleep research · 2020Trial
- Acupuncture Versus Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia in Cancer Survivors: A Randomized Clinical Trial.Journal of the National Cancer Institute · 2019Trial
- Randomised Evaluation of Sleep in Cognitive Impairment Trial (REST)-Protocol for a Feasibility Study of a Digital Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Insomnia Intervention.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2026Article
- Z-Drug Use and All-Cause Mortality: A Meta-Analysis of Observational Cohort Studies.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2026Article
- Management of adult insomnia in Australia: a joint position statement of the Australasian Sleep Association, Sleep Health Foundation, Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Australian Psychological Society, Pharmaceutical Society of Australia, and Australian Primary Health Care Nurses Association.Sleep advances : a journal of the Sleep Research Society · 2026Review
- Brain dynamic audio stimulation for subjective sleep disturbances in healthcare professionals: a single-arm pilot feasibility study.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Article
- Integrative sleep management: from molecular pathways to conventional and herbal treatments.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2025Review
- The Efficacy of Melatonergic Receptor Agonists Used in Clinical Practice in Insomnia Treatment: Melatonin, Tasimelteon, Ramelteon, Agomelatine, and Selected Herbs.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Effects of Acute Aerobic ExerciseSleep science (Sao Paulo, Brazil) · 2025Article
- Perceived Stress and Clinical Insomnia in Primary Care: Associations with Lifestyle and Medication Use.Patient preference and adherence · 2025Article
- [Sleep and sleep disorders in old age].Zeitschrift fur Gerontologie und Geriatrie · 2024Article
1 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
This is a review of hypnotic drug risks and benefits. Almost every month, new information appears about the risks of hypnotics (sleeping pills). The most important risks of hypnotics include excess mortality (especially overdose deaths, quiet deaths at night, and suicides), infections, cancer, depression, automobile crashes, falls, other accidents, and hypnotic-withdrawal insomnia. Short-term use of one-two prescriptions is associated with even greater risk per dose than long-term use. Hypnotics have usually been prescribed without approved indication, most often with specific contraindications, but even when indicated, there is little or no benefit. The recommended doses objectively increase sleep little if at all, daytime performance is often made worse (not better) and the lack of general health benefits is commonly misrepresented in advertising. Treatments such as the cognitive behavioral treatment of insomnia and bright light treatment of circadian rhythm disorders offer safer and more effective alternative approaches to insomnia.
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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.