Novel Antidepressant May Promote Sleep in Depression Patients

Vortioxetine, a novel antidepressant showed significant improvement in subjective sleep quality of patients who are affected by major depressive disorder and insomnia, reports a new study. The findings of the study are published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. The study may have important clinical implications because sleep problems affect an estimated 70 to 90 percent of patients with depression.

Vortioxetine differs from selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors that are prescribed to treat depression because it has a multimodal effect on serotonin transport and reuptake.

"Considering that sleep impairment is a frequent comorbid symptom in patients affected by the major depressive disorder, we suggest the possible use of vortioxetin for treating depressive symptoms and improving sleep quality in patients showing comorbid depression and insomnia," the authors wrote.

"However, future studies investigating sleep by using polysomnography, the gold standard tool able to study sleep architecture, are invited to confirm this preliminary observation."

Source-Eurekalert