Exogenous melatonin safe for treating nocturia in elderly women, study says

Thailand: A new study published in the International Urogynecology Journal shows that melatonin is an efficient and safe therapy for nocturia in elderly women.

Nocturia has an impact on one's health and quality of life (QoL). Current medical therapies can have serious side effects, particularly when treating older individuals. Endogenous melatonin has a physiological role in urinary bladder function, and exogenous melatonin may help with this disease. As a result, Pichai Leerasiri and colleagues undertook this study to assess the efficacy and safety of melatonin in treating nocturia in elderly women.

This double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled experiment was carried out in a Thai university hospital. Sixty women with nocturia over the age of 55 were recruited prospectively and randomly assigned to treatment (melatonin 2 mg/day, n = 30) or control (placebo, n = 30) arms for two weeks. Nocturia episodes, Nocturia Quality of Life Questionnaire (N-QoL) scores, nocturia-related parameters, and adverse events were used as outcome variables.

The key findings of this study were as follows:

1. In terms of mean age, the control and treatment groups were comparable (65.9 + 7.5 vs. 68.5 + 6.3 years).

2. With a baseline median voiding frequency of 2.3 and 2.3 episodes/night, respectively, both groups reported comparable causes of nocturia.

3. The treatment group outperformed the placebo group in terms of median nocturia reduction [-1.0 vs. 0.0 episodes/night], increased median duration of first uninterrupted sleep [1.0 vs. 0.0 h], and improvement in N-QoL scoring, particularly in the sleep/energy subscale.

4. The number of adverse events was comparable between groups.

In conclusion, the findings of this clearly point out the effectiveness of melatonin in the treatment of Nocturia in elderly women.

Reference:

Leerasiri, P., Pariyaeksut, P., Hengrasmee, P., & Asumpinwong, C. (2022). Effectiveness of melatonin for the treatment of nocturia: a randomized controlled trial. In International Urogynecology Journal. Springer Science and Business Media LLC. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00192-022-05232-3