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Mel8.5
Melatonin – Forschung
Hilft wahrscheinlich
68 begutachtete Studien
Was die Evidenz sagt
Hilft wahrscheinlich
Melatonin scheint in 19 von 24 Studien mit messbaren Effekten zu helfen — die Evidenz tendiert klar ins Positive.
Die meiste Evidenz stammt aus hochwertigen Meta-Analysen und randomisierten Studien, veröffentlicht 2002–2026 mit einer typischen Studiengröße von 315 Teilnehmenden.
Basierend auf 68 Studien · 32 Meta-Analysen · 15 RCTs · 32,124 Teilnehmende insgesamt
Konfidenz
Hohe Konfidenz
Was die Studien gefunden haben
19geholfen4unklar1nicht geholfen· 44 weitere ohne bewertete Effektdaten
Nach Outcome
Sleep & insomniaVerkürzt die Einschlaflatenz um 7-12 Minuten · 30-60 Minuten · Moderate Verbesserung mit Retard-Formulierungen · 1 Woche · Moderate Verbesserung der Tiefschlafarchitektur · 1-2 Wochen
Hilft wahrscheinlich66 Studien
Therapeutic & clinical
Hilft wahrscheinlich13 Studien
Circadian rhythm & jet lagStellt den zirkadianen Rhythmus wirksam wieder her · 1-3 Tage
Hilft vermutlich6 Studien
Cognitive function
Überwiegend Mechanismus / Beobachtung6 Studien
Women's healthUnterstützt einen gesunden Östrogenstoffwechsel und das hormonelle Gleichgewicht · 4-8 Wochen
Überwiegend Mechanismus / Beobachtung6 Studien
Safety profile
Überwiegend Mechanismus / Beobachtung6 Studien
Anxiety & stress
Überwiegend Mechanismus / Beobachtung4 Studien
Depression & mood
Hilft wahrscheinlich4 Studien
Heart & blood pressure
Überwiegend Mechanismus / Beobachtung3 Studien
Glucose & metabolic
Überwiegend Mechanismus / Beobachtung3 Studien
Energy & fatigue
Zu wenige bewertete Studien2 Studien
Migraine & headache
Zu wenige bewertete Studien1 Studie
Inflammation
Zu wenige bewertete Studien1 Studie
Fertility & reproductiveKann die reproduktive Gesundheit und Fertilitätsmarker unterstützen · 4-12 Wochen
Zu wenige bewertete Studien1 Studie
In Zahlen
Aus 56 Studien mit messbaren Effekten gezogen
Wahrscheinlich echte Effekte
87%
über Studien hinweg
Untersuchte Personen
32k
typische Studie: 315 Personen
Stärkste Designs
47
32 gepoolt, 15 randomisiert
Zeigte Nutzen
79%
19/24 Studien
Wie lange Studien liefen
1–3 Monate
1
3+ Monate
3
Untersuchte Populationen
Adults with sleep disorders2
Patients with dementia2
PCOS patients2
General population2
Aktives Forschungsgebiet
63 Studien in den letzten 5 Jahren · Neueste Meta-Analyse: 2026
200220142026
1Cognitive function in mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer'sMeta-AnalyseCited 18×n=4,599 · very large study2024
Melatonin may be a better potential disease-modifying treatment for cognitive decline in mild AD and MCI.
Terao I et al. · Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD (2024)
Melatonin may be a better potential disease-modifying treatment for cognitive decline in mild AD and MCI.
Aerobic exercise for a short time might also be better than donanemab, lecanemab and aducanumab if continued, as it is well tolerated and more effective, although less valid due to heterogeneity.
Another limitation is the small number of participants.
2Insomnia symptomsMeta-AnalyseCited 17×n=4,875 · very large study2023
PR melatonin for individuals with a mean age ≥ 55 and ramelteon show larger effect sizes.
Maruani J et al. · Journal of sleep research (2023)
For the subgroup mean age of patients ≥55, PR melatonin was efficacious on oSE with a large effect size (p < 0.001; weighted difference = 2.95%).
Regarding long-term effects, ramelteon has a large effect size on oTST (p < 0.001; weighted difference = 2.02 min) and sTST (p < 0.001; weighted difference = 14.5 min).
PR melatonin and ramelteon appear efficacious compared with placebo for insomnia symptoms with PR melatonin showing mostly small to medium effect sizes.
3Delirium prevention and mortality reductionMeta-AnalyseCited 7×n=4,850 · very large study2023
This study provides evidence of the potential effects of MRAs in preventing delirium and reducing mortality.
Wada M et al. · General hospital psychiatry (2023)
Kaum spürbar Nutzen
← SchlechterKein EffektBesser →
Likely real
Additionally, MRAs were associated with a significant reduction in mortality rate (risk ratio = 0.90, p = 0.02) in delirium prevention studies.
This study provides evidence of the potential effects of MRAs in preventing delirium and reducing mortality.
Further research is required to elucidate the therapeutic potential of MRAs for delirium and identify specific patient populations that may benefit from this agent.
5Sleep onset latency and total sleep timeMeta-AnalyseCited 31×n=1,998 · large study2022
We found evidence that melatonin significantly improved sleep onset latency and total sleep time, but not sleep awaking, in children and adolescents with a variety of neurodevelopmental disorders, and sleep onset latency (measured by diary) as well as total sleep time (measured with polysomnography) in adults with delayed sleep phase disorder.
Salanitro M et al. · Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews (2022)
We found evidence that melatonin significantly improved sleep onset latency and total sleep time, but not sleep awaking, in children and adolescents with a variety of neurodevelopmental disorders.
No evidence of significant differences between melatonin and placebo was found in terms of tolerability.
7Manic symptoms in bipolar disorderMeta-AnalyseCited 22×n=1,279 · large study2022
There is a paucity of studies examining pharmacological interventions for sleep and circadian rhythm disturbance in BD.
McGowan NM et al. · CNS drugs (2022)
Kein klarer Effekt
← SchlechterKein EffektBesser →
The largest efficacy signal detected was for manic symptoms (four studies; g = - 0.44 [95% CI - 1.03 to 0.14]) but there was substantial heterogeneity between studies and patient characteristics.
There is a paucity of studies examining pharmacological interventions for sleep and circadian rhythm disturbance in BD.
Few studies assessed sleep-related symptoms, and none quantitatively examined endogenous melatonin patterns or other circadian rhythms.
9Fatigue incidence in cancer patientsMeta-AnalyseCited 3×n=126 · medium study2025
The available evidence is of very low certainty, so we are unable to draw conclusions about the effects of melatonin on quality of life and sleep at three months in people receiving treatment for cancer.
Yu ZY et al. · The Cochrane database of systematic reviews (2025)
Sehr groß Nutzen
← SchlechterKein EffektBesser →
We downgraded the certainty of the evidence because of high risk of bias, small sample size, the width of the 95% confidence interval, and indirectness due to inadequate reporting of cancer type.
Melatonin likely reduces the incidence of fatigue (RR 0.46, 95% CI 0.39 to 0.55; 10 studies, 1359 participants; moderate-certainty evidence) and may reduce nausea (RR 0.85, 95% CI 0.72 to 1.00; 6 studies, 710 participants; low-certainty evidence).
We downgraded the certainty of the evidence because of the high risk of bias and the width of the 95% confidence interval.
Thus, melatonin, by increasing psychologic parameters and cardiac potency, could be advised as a novel drug for treatment and palliating heart failure patients.
Daliri AS et al. · Clinical cardiology (2025)
As the effect of melatonin, fatigue, and NT-Pro BNP were reduced but on the contrary sleep quality, appetite, and FMD (Flow-Mediated Dilation) significantly increased.
Thus, melatonin, by increasing psychologic parameters and cardiac potency, could be advised as a novel drug for treatment and palliating heart failure patients.
12Total nocturnal sleep timeMeta-AnalyseCited 88×n=222 · medium study2020
We discovered a distinct lack of evidence to guide decisions about drug treatment of sleep problems in dementia.
McCleery J et al. · The Cochrane database of systematic reviews (2020)
Kein klarer Effekt
← SchlechterKein EffektBesser →
We could synthesise data for two of our primary sleep outcomes: total nocturnal sleep time (TNST) (MD 10.68 minutes, 95% CI -16.22 to 37.59; 2 studies, n = 184), and the ratio of day-time to night-time sleep (MD -0.13, 95% CI -0.29 to 0.03; 2 studies; n = 184).
We found low-certainty evidence that trazodone 50 mg for two weeks may improve TNST (MD 42.46 minutes, 95% CI 0.9 to 84.0; 1 study, n = 30), and sleep efficiency (MD 8.53%, 95% CI 1.9 to 15.1; 1 study, n = 30) in people with moderate-to-severe AD.
The effect on time awake after sleep onset was uncertain due to very serious imprecision (MD -20.41 minutes, 95% CI -60.4 to 19.6; 1 study, n = 30).
Melatonin is a potential antioxidant that may prevent damage from oxidative stress in patients with PCOS.
Ziaei S et al. · Journal of ovarian research (2024)
Melatonin is a potential antioxidant that may prevent damage from oxidative stress in patients with PCOS.
However, the clear effect of melatonin supplementation on cardiometabolic risk factors, hormonal outcomes, and pregnancy-related outcomes needs to be evaluated further in large populations and long-term RCTs.
The present study revealed that melatonin supplementation has a decreasing effect on depression in all duration of studies and doses subgroup and in age more than 65 years in depression studies but heterogenicity of the included studies, did not allow a definitive conclusion.
Shokri-Mashhadi N et al. · Behavioural brain research (2023)
Spürbar Nutzen
← SchlechterKein EffektBesser →
Melatonin supplementation yielded no significant effect on BDNF concentration (WMD: -5.61; 95% CI: -14.10, 2.88; I-square: 85.6%), but improved depression by decreasing the score (WMD: -0.76; 95% CI: -1.12, -0.4; I-square: 88.0%).
The subgroup analysis showed that melatonin supplementation had a significant decreasing effect on BDNF levels in doses ≤ 10 mg/day, with more than 4 weeks of duration, and in men.
The present study revealed that melatonin supplementation has a decreasing effect on depression in all duration of studies and doses subgroup and in age more than 65 years in depression studies but heterogenicity of the included studies, did not allow a definitive conclusion.
Although melatonin and ramelteon may be effective treatments for delirium, particularly to shorten the duration of delirium and to limit the use of rescue medication, current data is limited in number and in its quality.
Beaucage-Charron J et al. · Journal of psychosomatic research (2023)
Spürbar Nutzen
← SchlechterKein EffektBesser →
Likely real
Two RCTs reported the duration of delirium and a meta-analysis provided a statistical difference between melatonin and placebo (-1.72 days, 95% CI -2.66 to -0.77, p = 0.0004).
Although melatonin and ramelteon may be effective treatments for delirium, particularly to shorten the duration of delirium and to limit the use of rescue medication, current data is limited in number and in its quality.
Clinicians should wait until higher quality data from ongoing RCTs are available before prescribing melatonin to delirious patients.
18MMSE score in mild stage Alzheimer's diseaseMeta-AnalyseCited 87×2021
Importantly, melatonin significantly improved MMSE score in mild stage of AD [MD: 1.89 (0.96; 2.82) p < 0.0001].
Sumsuzzman DM et al. · Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews (2021)
Spürbar Nutzen
← SchlechterKein EffektBesser →
Likely real
Importantly, melatonin significantly improved MMSE score in mild stage of AD [MD: 1.89 (0.96; 2.82) p < 0.0001].
In healthy-subjects, although daytime melatonin treatment notably decreased in accuracy by correct responses [SMD: -0.74 (-1.03; -0.45) p < 0.00001], the reaction-time score on different stimuli (p = 0.37) did not increased.
Meta-analysis of MMSE score suggested that melatonin is effective in treatment for mild stage of AD.
19Sleep onset latency in chronic insomniaMeta-AnalyseCited 42×n=24 · very small study2022
In comorbid insomnia, melatonin significantly improved sleep onset latency in all age groups, but there was only one study in adults group.
Choi K et al. · Sleep medicine reviews (2022)
In comorbid insomnia, melatonin significantly improved sleep onset latency in all age groups, but there was only one study in adults group.
In conclusion, melatonin did not appear to be effective in adults but might be effective in children and adolescents with chronic insomnia for both comorbid insomnia and non-comorbid insomnia.
Further studies are needed to establish the efficacy and safety of melatonin by age groups.
Amino acids, vitamin D and melatonin supplements were significantly beneficial to improve sleep quality.
Chan V et al. · Postgraduate medical journal (2022)
Spürbar Nutzen
← SchlechterKein EffektBesser →
Subjective sleep quality was significantly improved by supplementation of amino acids (MD -1.27, 95% CI -2.35 to -0.20; I2=0%), melatonin (MD -1.21, 95% CI -2.17 to -0.24; I2=79%) and vitamin D (MD -1.63, 95% CI -3.15 to -0.10; I2=85%).
Amino acids, vitamin D and melatonin supplements were significantly beneficial to improve sleep quality.
However, high heterogeneity and wide confidence levels were observed in vitamin D and melatonin.