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Pharmacologic treatment of pediatric insomnia

Judith A Owens1, Sricharan Moturi

  • 1Department of Pediatrics, Alpert Medical School at Brown University, Ambulatory Pediatrics Potter 200, 593 Eddy Street, Providence, RI 02903, USA. owensleep@gmail.com

Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Clinics of North America
|October 20, 2009
PubMed

Insights

Pediatric insomnia is common and impacts children, adolescents, and caregivers. This review provides expert guidelines on commonly prescribed sedative/hypnotic medications for treating childhood insomnia.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatrics
  • Sleep Medicine
  • Pharmacology

Background:

  • Pediatric insomnia is prevalent in children and adolescents, often co-occurring with other disorders.
  • It can lead to cognitive, emotional, and psychosocial impairments, increasing caregiver burden.
  • While behavioral interventions exist, evidence for pharmacologic treatments is limited.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To present expert consensus guidelines for pharmacologic treatment of pediatric insomnia.
  • To focus on commonly prescribed sedative/hypnotic medication classes.

Main Methods:

  • Review of expert consensus guidelines.
  • Focus on commonly prescribed pharmacologic agents for pediatric insomnia.

Main Results:

  • Sedative/hypnotic drugs are frequently used in clinical practice for pediatric insomnia.
  • Guidelines exist for general and specific medication use.

Conclusions:

  • Expert consensus guidelines are presented for the clinical use of sedative/hypnotic medications in pediatric insomnia.
  • The review highlights commonly prescribed pharmacologic agents.

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