Functional Melatonin Replacement for Sleep Disruptions in Individuals With Tetraplegia

April 25, 2014 updated by: US Department of Veterans Affairs

Melatonin Replacement for Treatment of Sleep Disruption

The purpose of this study is to determine if replacing melatonin function with a melatonin agonist (ramelteon) in individuals that lack endogenous melatonin production (tetraplegia) helps to alleviate self-reported sleep disruption.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

12

Phase

  • Phase 4

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • United States
    • California
      • Palo Alto, California, United States, 94304-1290
        • VA Palo Alto Health Care System

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years to 65 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age 18 years or older, male or female veterans of any racial or ethnic group
  • Neurologically complete (Frankel A or B) damage to the lower (C4-C8) cervical spinal cord
  • Absence of melatonin production
  • Time since SCI is greater than 6 months [no cases of acute spinal cord injury]
  • Subjective complaint of sleep disruption

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Current use of fluvoxamine (Luvox , antidepressant), rifampin (antimycobacterial), ketoconazole (Nizoral , antifungal), or fluconazole (Diflucan , antifungal) [these interact with the same liver enzyme that is the primary metabolizer of ramelteon]; use of sleep medications is okay
  • Hepatic dysfunction
  • Concomitant use of over-the-counter melatonin
  • Pregnancy or breast feeding
  • Currently or have within the past six months met DSM-IV (Diagnosis and Statistical Manual IV) criteria for drug or alcohol abuse or dependence or AUDIT score >19
  • Acute illness or unstable chronic illness. Use of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) for treatment of sleep apnea is acceptable.
  • No travel across three or more time zones within three weeks or during the protocol
  • Illiterate or unable to read or write English or are judged by the investigator to be unable or unlikely to follow the study protocol

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Crossover Assignment
  • Masking: Triple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Ramelteon then placebo
8 mg nightly ramelteon for three weeks, followed by two weeks of nightly placebo (washout), then three weeks of nightly placebo (cross-over)
Drug: Ramelteon
8 mg nightly
Other Names:
  • Rozerem
Experimental: Placebo then ramelteon
placebo nightly for three weeks, followed by two weeks of nightly placebo (washout), then three weeks of 8 mg nightly ramelteon (cross-over)
Drug: Placebo
Nightly 8mg of placebo (same appearance as ramelteon)

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Amount of Wakefulness After Sleep Onset (WASO)
Time Frame: 10 weeks
Measured as the median of the average WASO of the three weeks of either placebo or ramelteon treatment
10 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change in Subjective Morning Alertness
Time Frame: 10 weeks
Measured as the median of the average morning alertness (measured from 1-7 on the Stanford Sleepiness Scale, a Likert-like scale in which higher values are lower alertness) of the three weeks of either placebo or ramelteon treatment
10 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

US Department of Veterans Affairs

Collaborators

Takeda
Stanford University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Jamie M. Zeitzer, PhD, VA Palo Alto Health Care System

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

July 1, 2007

Primary Completion (Actual)

December 1, 2010

Study Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2011

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

July 25, 2007

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 25, 2007

First Posted (Estimate)

July 26, 2007

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

May 22, 2014

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

April 25, 2014

Last Verified

April 1, 2014

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • B6010-R
  • 06-038R (Other Grant/Funding Number: VA)

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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