Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32574327›Full record

ReviewFrontiers in medicine2020

Therapeutic Algorithm for Use of Melatonin in Patients With COVID-19.

Russel J Reiter, Pedro Abreu-Gonzalez, Paul E Marik, Alberto Dominguez-Rodriguez

Open access · goldAbstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Frontiers in medicine, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
49citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
9.1field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

49 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 106 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Trial
  4. Melatonin and Vascular Function.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024
    Review
  5. Review
  6. Article
  7. Review
  8. Review
  9. Review
  10. Review
  11. Article
  12. Review
  13. Role of melatonin in respiratory diseases (Review).Experimental and therapeutic medicine · 2022
    Review
  14. Disrupted Sleep During a Pandemic.Sleep medicine clinics · 2022
    Review
  15. Review
  16. Review
  17. Review
  18. Infections, Pandemics, and Sleep Disorders.Neuroscience and behavioral physiology · 2022
    Article
  19. Review
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.

Russel J ReiterDepartment of Cell Systems and Anatomy, UT Health San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, United States.
Pedro Abreu-GonzalezDepartment of Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of La Laguna, San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Spain.
Paul E MarikDivision of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, VA, United States.
Alberto Dominguez-RodriguezDepartment of Cardiology, Hospital Universitario de Canarias, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain.
Eastern Virginia Medical School · USThe University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio · USUniversidad de La Laguna · ESUniversidad Europea de Canarias · ES

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The coronavirus, COVID-19, has infected hundreds of thousands and killed tens of thousands of individuals worldwide. This highly infectious condition continues to ravage the world population and has yet to reach it peak infective rate in some countries. Many conventional drugs including hydroxychloroquine/chloroquine, lopinavir, remdesivir, etc., have been repurposed as treatments for this often deadly disease, but there is no specifically-designed effective drug available; also, the drugs mentioned have significant side effects and their efficacy is unknown. New drugs and vaccines are being designed as COVID-19 treatment, but their development and testing will require months to years. Time is not a luxury that this crisis has. Thus, there is a serious unmet need for the identification of currently-available and safe molecules which can be used to slow or treat COVID-19 disease. Here, we suggest melatonin be given consideration for prophylactic use or treatment alone or in combination with other drugs. Melatonin's multiple actions as an anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant, and anti-viral (against other viruses) make it a reasonable choice for use. Melatonin is readily available, can be easily synthesized in large quantities, is inexpensive, has a very high safety profile and can be easily self-administered. Melatonin is endogenously-produced molecule in small amounts with its production diminishing with increased age. Under the current critical conditions, large doses of melatonin alone or in combination with currently-recommended drugs, e.g., hydroxychloroquine/chloroquine, to resist COVID-19 infection would seem judicious.

Indexed as

COVID-19melatoninprevention & controlSARS-CoV-2treatment-drug

Identifiers

PMID32574327
PMCPMC7242729
OpenAlexW3025131062

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.