Trial reportJournal of medical virology2026
Oral Melatonin in Critically Ill Patients With COVID-19: A Quasi-Experimental Pragmatic Trial.
Trial report in Journal of medical virology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.
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
3 citing papers in PubMed.
- Oral Melatonin in Critically Ill Patients With COVID-19: A Quasi-Experimental Pragmatic Trial.Journal of medical virology · 2026Trial
- Melatonin beyond chronobiology: integrating pharmacokinetics, dose-exposure forecasting, and clinical evidence.Molecular biology reports · 2026Review
- Circadian Rhythms in Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome: Molecular Mechanisms and Therapeutic Implications.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
23 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Melatonin has demonstrated antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and potential antiviral properties. Its therapeutic role in critically ill COVID-19 patients admitted to intensive care was underexplored at the start of the pandemic. We conducted a quasi-experimental, pragmatic study over 4 consecutive uninterrupted time periods alternating control groups receiving standard of care (SoC) with treatment groups receiving SoC plus high-dose oral bedtime melatonin (50-200 mg) (OBM). The primary endpoint was 90-day mortality; secondary outcomes included sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) scores at 4, 7, 14, and 30 days and pre-defined severe adverse events (SAEs). A total of 335 of 339 consecutive patients with a predicted stay > 48 h were enrolled; 202 received OBM with SoC and 133 received SoC alone. OBM was dispensed during the second (n = 162) and fourth (n = 40) study periods after the first (n = 40) and third (n = 93) control group periods, respectively. Melatonin therapy was associated with significantly lower 90-day mortality (20.8% vs. 36.1%, OR 0.46, 95% CI 0.28-0.76). Subjects receiving melatonin had lower SOFA scores on Day 4 and subsequent study visits. SAEs occurred in 84 (41.6%) subjects on OBM and in 80 (60.2%) receiving SoC (risk ratio 0.68, 95% CI 0.54-0.87; p = 0.001). High-dose oral melatonin was safe and associated with improved clinical outcomes. Further evaluation of melatonin and its potential antiviral effects in future epidemics is warranted.
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Registered trials
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