Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Sleep-Prolonging Effect of Memantine for Short Periods and Low Doses

  • Published:
Neuroscience and Behavioral Physiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Among the antidementia drugs, only memantine has a sedative effect. In addition, it also has the effect of prolonging sleep time. However, there are no reports of prolonging sleep time upon commencement of the drugs. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the effect of memantine on sleep time for short periods and low doses upon commencement of the drugs. Patients included in this retrospective study were those who commenced therapy taking either memantine 5 mg once daily or galantamine 4 mg twice daily during hospitalization. Galantamine was used as a comparison. The evaluation was made by averaging the sleep time scores (1 to 5 points) for 3 days before and after commencement of the drugs. There was no difference in sleep time scores before commencement between the two groups [memantine group 4.3 (3.7–4.7)/galantamine group median 4.7 (interquartile range 3.3–4.7): p = 0.838]. The memantine group had significantly higher scores after commencement [memantine group 4.7 (4.3–5.0) galantamine group 4.3 (3.0–4.7): p = 0.036]. Memantine may have a sleep-prolonging effect for short periods and low doses.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. S. G. Di Santo, F. Prinelli, F. Adorni, et al., “A meta-analysis of the efficacy of donepezil, rivastigmine, galantamine, and memantine in relation to severity of Alzheimer’s disease,” J. Alzheimer’s Dis., 35, No. 2, 349–361 (2013).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. B. Reisberg, R. Doody, A. Stöffler, et al., “Memantine in moderate-to-severe Alzheimer’s disease,” N. Engl. J. Med., 348, No. 14, 1333–1341 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Y. Nakamura, S. Kitamura, A. Homma, et al., “Efficacy and safety of memantine in patients with moderate-to-severe Alzheimer’s disease: Results of a pooled analysis of two randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials in Japan,” Expert Opin. Pharmacother., 15, No. 7, 913–925 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. I. Ishikawa, H. Shinno, N. Ando, et al., “The effect of memantine on sleep architecture and psychiatric symptoms in patients with Alzheimer’s disease,” Acta Neuropsychiatr., 28, No. 3, 157–164 (2016).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. M. M. Ohayon, M. A. Carskadon, C. Guilleminault, and M. V. Vitiello, “Meta-analysis of quantitative sleep parameters from childhood to old age in healthy individuals: Developing normative sleep values across the human lifespan,” Sleep, 27, No. 7, 1255–1273 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. S. Ancoli-Israel, L. Parker, R. Sinaee, et al., “Sleep fragmentation in patients from a nursing home,” J. Gerontol., 44, No. 1, M18-21 (1989).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Y. Kabeshita, H. Adachi, M. Matsushita, et al., “Sleep disturbances are key symptoms of very early stage Alzheimer disease with behavioral and psychological symptoms: a Japan multi-center cross-sectional study (J-BIRD),” Int. J. Geriatr. Psychiatry, 32, No. 2, 222–230 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. M. I. Naharci, A. Ozturk, H. Yasar, et al., “Galantamine improves sleep quality in patients with dementia,” Acta Neurol. Belg., 115, No. 4, 563–568 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. N. Thavichachart, K. Phanthumchinda, S. Chankrachang, et al., “Efficacy study of galantamine in possible Alzheimer’s disease with or without cerebrovascular disease and vascular dementia in Thai patients: A slow-titration regimen,” Int. J. Clin. Pract., 60, No. 5, 533–540 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. S. Ikehara, H. Iso, C. Date, et al., “Association of sleep duration with mortality from cardiovascular disease and other causes for Japanese men and women: The JACC study,” Sleep, 32, No. 3, 295–301 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. A. Periclou, D. Ventura, N. Rao, and W. Abramowitz, “Pharmacokinetic study of memantine in healthy and renally impaired subjects,” Clin. Pharmacol. Ther., 79, No. 1, 134–143 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. J. B. Schulz, M. Rainer, H. H. Klünemann, et al., “Sustained effects of once-daily memantine treatment on cognition and functional communication skills in patients with moderate to severe Alzheimer’s disease: Results of a 16-week open-label trial,” J. Alzheimer’s Dis., 25, No. 3, 463–475 (2011).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. C. Fox, M. Crugel, I. Maidment, et al., “Efficacy of memantine for agitation in Alzheimer’s dementia: A randomised double-blind placebo controlled trial,” PLoS One, 7, No. 5, e35185 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. P. Rahimzadeh, F. Imani, N. Nikoubakht, et al., “A comparative study on the effi cacy of oral memantine and placebo for acute postoperative pain in patients undergoing dacryocystorhinostomy (DCR),” Anesthesiol. Pain Med., 7, No. 3, e45297 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. M. Abbasinazari, L. Adib-Eshgh, A. Rostami, et al., “Memantine in the prevention or alleviation of electroconvulsive therapy induces cognitive disorders: A placebo controlled trial,” Asian J. Psychiatr., 15, 5–9 (2015).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. M. Wang, A. H. Wong, and F. Liu, “Interactions between NMDA and dopamine receptors: A potential therapeutic target,” Brain Res., 1476, 154–163 (2012).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. R. Spanagel, B. Eilbacher, and R. Wilke, “Memantine-induced dopamine release in the prefrontal cortex and striatum of the rat – a pharmacokinetic microdialysis study,” Eur. J. Pharmacol., 262, No. 1–2, 21–26 (1994).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. J. S. Vidal, J. M. Lacombe, J. F. Dartigues, et al., “Evaluation of the impact of memantine treatment initiation on psychotropics use: A study from the French national health care database,” Neuroepidemiology, 31, No. 3, 193–200 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. L. J. Seppala, A. M. A. T. Wermelink, M. de Vries, et al., “Fall-riskincreasing drugs: A systematic review and meta-analysis: II. Psychotropics,” J. Am. Med. Dir. Assoc., 19, No. 4, 371.e11–371.e17 (2018).

  20. Q. He, X. Chen, T. Wu, et al., “Risk of dementia in long-term benzodiazepine users: Evidence from a meta-analysis of observational studies,” J. Clin. Neurol., 15, No. 1, 9–19 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. D. M. Fick, T. P. Semla, M. Steinman, et al., “American Geriatrics Society 2019 Updated AGS Beers Criteria® for Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Older Adults,” J. Am. Geriatr. Soc., 67, No. 4, 674–694 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. S. Laberge and A. M. Crizzle, “A literature review of psychotropic medications and alcohol as risk factors for falls in community dwelling older adults,” Clin. Drug Investig., 39, No. 2, 117–139 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. M. Y. Liu, S. N. Meng, H. Z. Wu, et al., “Pharmacokinetics of single-dose and multiple-dose memantine in healthy Chinese volunteers using an analytic method of liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry,” Clin. Ther., 30, No. 4, 641–653 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. M. A. Miller, B. N. Renn, F. Chu, and N. Torrence, “Sleepless in the hospital: A systematic review of non-pharmacological sleep interventions,” Gen. Hosp. Psychiatry, 59, 58–66 (2019).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. J. Yin, X. Jin, Z. Shan, et al., “Relationship of sleep duration with allcause mortality and cardiovascular events: A systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies,” J. Am. Heart Assoc., 6, No. 9, 1–15 (2017).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Koki Mori.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Mori, K., Yoshida, M., Tomita, K. et al. Sleep-Prolonging Effect of Memantine for Short Periods and Low Doses. Neurosci Behav Physi 51, 1027–1031 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-021-01161-8

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11055-021-01161-8

Keywords

Navigation