Polysomnographic Sleep Disturbances Due to High-Dose Zolpidem Use: A Case Report.

ABSTRACT: Zolpidem is widely prescribed for the treatment of insomnia and is used to both induce and maintain sleep. Previously, zolpidem was thought to have low abuse potential; however, several reports have documented dose escalation and abuse in the past two decades. Here, we report the case of a patient with high-dose zolpidem dependence who underwent polysomnography (PSG) and the Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT). The patient, a 29-year-old man, was administered zolpidem at doses of 300 to 1,200 mg/day, but he abused zolpidem to feel energetic. Consequently, he had a car accident while on a high dose, which the PSG revealed caused activation instead of sedation. The MSLT showed excessive daytime sleepiness despite a lack of subjective sleepiness under this condition. Our findings suggest that disrupted sleep and daytime sleepiness caused by supratherapeutic zolpidem doses could place individuals at high risk for accidents, including those who are unaware of sleepiness.

Effect of zolpidem on sleep architecture and its next-morning residual effect in insomniac patients: a randomized crossover comparative study with brotizolam.

This study was conducted to determine the effect of zolpidem (ZOL) 10 mg orally on the sleep architecture and the next-morning residual effect in patients with non-organic insomnia (ICD-10) as compared to the effect of brotizolam (BTM) 0.25 mg orally, a widely used short-acting benzodiazepine (BZD) hypnotic in Japan, in a randomized, crossover comparative study. Fourteen patients with non-organic insomnia (3 males and 11 females; mean age of 54.9+/-S.D. 8.9 years). First three nights with placebo, middle three nights with either ZOL 10 mg or BTM 0.25 mg, and last three nights again with placebo in each session (a total of two sessions). Primary endpoints were polysomnography findings of sleep stages, sleep parameters, and sleep latency (SL) in the morning to examine calculable sleepiness as a residual effect. Secondary endpoint was sleep quality assessed by self-assessment questionnaire. At 150 min after Tmax, both ZOL and BTM significantly increased stage 2 (S2), and ZOL showed significantly longer slow wave sleep (SWS; stage 3+4) as compared to BTM. Stage wake was significantly increased by ZOL at the first withdrawal night and by BTM at the second withdrawal night. ZOL did not affect SL after rising, whereas BTM showed significantly shorter SL. Both drugs reduced the number of nocturnal awakenings and improved subjective sleep quality. The common adverse drug reaction (ADR) was sleepiness (3 patients) in each treatment. All events were mild. No serious adverse events occurred. ZOL is as effective as BTM in improving subjective sleep quality in patients with psychophysiological insomnia (PPI). ZOL has advantages over BTM in having a unique profile of increasing SWS with less next-morning residual effect.

A randomized placebo-controlled polysomnographic study of eszopiclone in Japanese patients with primary insomnia.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the efficacy and dose-response effect of eszopiclone on sleep latency and sleep maintenance in Japanese patients with primary insomnia. METHODS: In this randomized, double-blind, five-way crossover study, 72 patients received placebo, eszopiclone 1mg, 2mg, and 3mg, and zolpidem 10mg in random order for two consecutive nights with a washout period between treatments. Objective sleep measures from polysomnography (PSG) and subjective patient reports were collected. RESULTS: All active treatments produced significant improvement in objective and subjective sleep latency compared with placebo (P<0.05 for all comparisons); linear dose-response relationships were observed for eszopiclone. PSG-determined wake time after sleep onset (WASO), sleep efficiency, and number of awakenings (NA), and patient-reported measures of WASO, NA, sleep quality, sleep depth, and daytime functioning significantly improved following treatment with eszopiclone 2mg and 3mg and zolpidem 10mg versus placebo (P<0.05). Eszopiclone at all doses increased total sleep time and stage 2 sleep time (P<0.001 for both comparisons), but did not alter REM or slow-wave sleep. Eszopiclone was generally well tolerated; the most frequently reported adverse event was mild dysgeusia. CONCLUSIONS: In Japanese patients with primary insomnia, eszopiclone 2mg and 3mg significantly improved PSG-determined and patient-reported sleep latency and sleep maintenance relative to placebo.

Efficacy and tolerability of ramelteon in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study in Japanese patients with chronic primary insomnia.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of ramelteon 4, 8, 16 or 32 mg and placebo in Japanese patients with chronic insomnia using a randomized, double-blind, five-period crossover design. A total of 65 Japanese patients with chronic primary insomnia received ramelteon or placebo for two nights each in sleep laboratories. Changes in sleep parameters were assessed objectively by polysomnography and subjectively by postsleep questionnaires. Safety and tolerability was evaluated by assessment of the occurrence of adverse events, next-day residual effects and laboratory and ECG investigations. Ramelteon 8 and 32 mg significantly shortened the mean latency to persistent sleep in comparison with placebo, and there was a statistically significant trend for linear dose-response for this sleep parameter. Overall changes in sleep architecture were modest (<3% changes vs placebo), with increases in stage 1 and decreases in stage 3/4. Ramelteon was well tolerated, the most common adverse effect being somnolence, which was similar to placebo at doses up to 8 mg, but increased with higher doses. Next-day residual effects occurred no more frequently with ramelteon at any dose than with placebo. When compared with sleep latency data from a similarly-designed US study, there was no evidence of any ethnic differences in the efficacy of ramelteon between Japanese and US patients. Overall, ramelteon 8 mg showed the most favorable balance between sleep-promoting effects and tolerability. The unique efficacy profile of ramelteon, promoting sleep initiation without affecting other sleep parameters, may be due to its circadian shifting effect.

Absence of adverse effects of oseltamivir on sleep: a double-blind, randomized study in healthy volunteers in Japan.

Influenza-associated neuropsychiatric symptoms include parasomnias such as sleepwalking which is a common sleep disturbance in childhood. Oseltamivir is a widely used antiviral drug for influenza. Recently, sleepwalking-like events have been reported in patients with influenza receiving oseltamivir. We investigated whether oseltamivir itself has effects on sleep. In this crossover study, healthy Japanese male volunteers were randomized into two treatment groups, each of which comprised two double-blind 4-day treatment periods. In the first period, group A received 75 mg oseltamivir (evening dose) on day 3, followed by 75 mg b.i.d. on day 4, and placebo in the second period. Group B received the same treatments, but in reverse order. Polysomnographic assessments were performed on all four nights of each treatment period. Pharmacokinetics were assessed during a 2-day open-label phase beginning on day 12. Thirty-one volunteers aged 20-24 years were enrolled. No volunteer had electroencephalographic abnormalities, and no abnormal behaviour was observed. Sleep parameters measured over the whole night and during early- and late sleep periods (first and last thirds of the night) were very similar for oseltamivir and placebo, although the amount of stage 2 sleep in the middle sleep period was slightly greater with oseltamivir. Pharmacokinetics for oseltamivir phosphate in groups A and B were very similar, but for oseltamivir carboxylate, AUC and C(max) values were higher in group B, probably because this group received oseltamivir on the evening of day 11. Oseltamivir was well tolerated. Oseltamivir did not produce clinically relevant changes on nocturnal polysomnographic variables in young Japanese men.

Decreased blood flow of the left thalamus during somnolent episodes in a case of recurrent hypersomnia.

A 24-year-old male with recurrent hypersomnia associated with decreased blood flow in the thalamus on single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) is reported. In the hypersomnolent period, the decrease of blood flow in the left thalamus was revealed in the SPECT and slow waves appeared sporadically or sometimes as a burst on the electroencephalogram (EEG). In a phase of insomnia in the convalescent period there were almost no slow waves in the resting EEG but many slow waves appeared on hyperventilation EEG and the power spectrum at this hyperventilation resembled the power spectrum at the resting EEG in the hypersomnolent period. In the remission period there was no abnormal data in these testings.

Effects of aroma on sleep and biological rhythms.

The polysomnogram (PSG), blood melatonin concentration, rectal temperature, and answers to a self-evaluation questionnaire about the effects of agarwood (jinkoh in Japanese), which has been reported to have sleep-promoting effects were examined. The subjects tested were male medical students, who were free of otorhinolaryngological diseases and were non-smokers. The results of sleep stage and other sleep variables, and those of rectal temperature rhythm and blood melatonin concentrations showed no significant differences between the baseline nights, experimental nights, and recovery nights.

Situation and problem of administration methods and the intermission of hypnotics.

The results of a questionnaire survey suggested four problems that might prolong the administration of benzodiazepine hypnotics without suspending the medication. First, psychiatrists did not actively consider the necessity of suspension of medication with hypnotics. Second, the period between improvement of insomnia and initiation of dose reduction was long, whereas the period between initiation of dose reduction and discontinuation was short. Third, to suspend medication of a hypnotic, every-other-day administration was used for the very short-acting and short-acting types, and substitution of the intermediate-acting or long-action type for the drugs with a short half-life were performed frequently. Finally, dose reduction and intermission of medication induced rebound insomnia, withdrawal symptoms, and recurrence of insomnia.