Melatonin and Quality of Life in Dialysis Patients
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2009-12-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Sleep problems can lead to a bad quality of life and a raise of morbidity, also in dialysis
patients. Sleep problems can be caused by a disturbance of circadian rhythms in our body. For
a good regulation of these circadian rhythms a uniform external synchronisation is necessary.
This is the synchronisation of the biological clock of our body by light and other
influences. In case of a disturbance of the external synchronisation, due to for example naps
during the day or wake periods at night, internal rhythms can be unlinked. As a result a
weakened melatonin rhythm and a problematic sleep-wake cycle can be observed. Most dialysis
patients have sleep problems. Their sleep latency is prolonged. They often take a nap during
the day and their sleep efficiency is poor. There has only been one study on the melatonin
rhythm of dialysis patients. The conclusion of this study was that the melatonin rhythm of
dialysis patients is weakened and disturbed, probably caused by renal insufficiency. In this
study no link was made between melatonin rhythm and the nature and severity of possible sleep
problems. In different studies with non-dialysis patients and a disturbed melatonin rhythm,
exogenous melatonin at the right time leads to a recovery of the normal rhythm and the normal
biological clock and a better quality of life.
The aim is to improve quality of life of hemodialysis patients with a placebo-controlled
study with melatonin to investigate if exogenous melatonin can improve sleep problems and on
the longer term improve quality of life (and secondary morbidity) of dialysis patients.