Sleep Treatments for Long COVID Syndrome
Recruiting in Palo Alto (17 mi)
+33 other locations
Age: 18+
Sex: Any
Travel: May Be Covered
Time Reimbursement: Varies
Trial Phase: Phase 2
Recruiting
Sponsor: Duke University
Disqualifiers: Pregnancy, Untreated sleep apnea, Narcolepsy, others
No Placebo Group
Prior Safety Data
Trial Summary
What is the purpose of this trial?The platform protocol is designed to be flexible so that it is suitable for a range of study settings and intervention types. Therefore, the platform protocol provides a general protocol structure that can be shared by multiple interventions and allows comparative analysis across the interventions. For example, objectives, measures, and endpoints are generalized in the platform protocol, but intervention-specific features are detailed in separate appendices.
This platform protocol is a prospective, multi-center, multi-arm, randomized controlled platform trial evaluating potential interventions for PASC-mediated sleep disturbances. The hypothesis is that symptoms of sleep and circadian disorders that emerge in patients with PASC can be improved by phenotype-targeted interventions. Specific sleep and circadian disorders addressed in this protocol include sleep-related daytime impairment (referred to as hypersomnia) and complex PASC-related sleep disturbance (reflecting symptoms of insomnia and sleep-wake rhythm disturbance).
Do I need to stop taking my current medications to join the trial?
The trial protocol does not specify if you need to stop taking your current medications. However, it mentions that some medications might be prohibited, and you may need to stop them if they interfere with the study intervention. Please check the specific appendices for details or consult with the trial team.
What data supports the effectiveness of the drug Melatonin for treating sleep issues in Long COVID patients?
Research suggests that Melatonin, known for its sleep-regulating properties, may help with sleep disturbances in Long COVID due to its ability to reduce inflammation and oxidative stress, which are common in COVID-19. Additionally, Melatonin's role as an antioxidant and its potential to improve cognitive issues like 'brain fog' make it a promising option for managing Long COVID symptoms.
12345Is melatonin safe for human use?
Melatonin, including its prolonged-release form (Circadin), has been shown to be generally safe for human use, with mild side effects like nausea, dizziness, restlessness, and headache reported in a small number of cases. It has been used successfully to improve sleep in various conditions without causing dependency or significant withdrawal symptoms.
56789How does the drug melatonin differ from other treatments for long COVID syndrome?
Melatonin is unique for long COVID syndrome due to its potential to reduce symptoms like 'brain fog' and fatigue through its antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immune-modulating properties. Unlike other treatments, it may also help restore sleep patterns disrupted by COVID-19 and has a high safety profile, making it a promising option for managing long COVID symptoms.
123410Eligibility Criteria
This trial is for adults over 18 who've had COVID-19 and are now experiencing new or worsened sleep problems lasting at least 12 weeks. Participants must have been in contact with a COVID case, hospitalized with respiratory symptoms, or tested positive. They should be able to consent, complete surveys/assessments, follow up on visits, and use birth control if applicable.Inclusion Criteria
My self-reported health score is 60 or higher.
I am 18 years old or older.
My case was suspected or probable before May 1, 2021.
+7 more
Trial Timeline
Screening
Participants are screened for eligibility to participate in the trial
2-4 weeks
Baseline Assessment
Baseline assessments are conducted before randomization to intervention groups
1-2 weeks
Treatment
Participants receive phenotype-targeted interventions for sleep disturbances
8-10 weeks
Follow-up
Participants are monitored for safety and effectiveness after treatment
4 weeks
Participant Groups
The RECOVER-SLEEP trial tests multiple treatments for post-COVID sleep issues: Melatonin, Modafinil, Solriamfetol and Tailored lighting (TL), each against a placebo. It's multi-center and randomized; patients don't choose their treatment.
2Treatment groups
Experimental Treatment
Group I: Hypersomnia Arm (Appendix A)Experimental Treatment4 Interventions
This is a double-blind, phase 2, randomized, placebo-controlled interventional trial of a wake-promoting drug (modafinil or solriamfetol) to treat hypersomnia, defined by elevated scores (\> 60) on the PROMIS 8a SRI scale, in participants with PASC. Participants will be randomized to study drug or control. Participants who meet the eligibility criteria for modafinil will receive either active modafinil or modafinil-matched control. If modafinil is contraindicated, participants will be assessed for solriamfetol. If participants are eligible for solriamfetol, they will receive either active solriamfetol or solriamfetol-matched control. If solriamfetol is contraindicated, participants will be excluded from Appendix A. Modafinil and solriamfetol will be analyzed as a single wake-promoting drug condition versus control. The intervention duration will be 10 weeks.
Anticipated enrollment is 474 participants. Details about the Hypersomnia Appendix are available under NCT06404099.
Group II: Complex PASC related Sleep Disturbances (CPSD) Arm (Appendix B )Experimental Treatment4 Interventions
This is a double-blind, phase 2, randomized, placebo-controlled, interventional trial that combines brief education and a tailored sleep timing prescription for CPSD with therapies that modify circadian timing for participants who report poor sleep quality or daytime sleep-related impairment, defined by elevated scores (≥60) on the PROMIS 8b SD scale, in participants with symptoms that occurred or worsened after COVID-19 infection. Interventions involve tailored lighting (TL) and melatonin. Participants will be randomly assigned to 1 of 4 groups: (a) active TL + oral melatonin, (b) active TL + placebo melatonin, (c) placebo TL + oral melatonin, and (d) placebo TL + placebo melatonin. All groups will receive BBT-CPSD. It is a 2x2 factorial design schema. The intervention duration will be 8 weeks.
Anticipated enrollment for this appendix is 600 participants. Additional details about the CPSD Appendix are available under NCT06404112.
Melatonin is already approved in European Union, European Union, United States for the following indications:
🇪🇺 Approved in European Union as Circadin for:
- Insomnia in adults aged 55 and over
- Sleep disorders in children with autism spectrum disorder
🇪🇺 Approved in European Union as Slenyto for:
- Insomnia in children and adolescents aged 2-18 with autism spectrum disorder
🇺🇸 Approved in United States as Melatonin for:
- Sleep disorders in children with autism spectrum disorder
- Insomnia in adults
Find a Clinic Near You
Research Locations NearbySelect from list below to view details:
University of Florida College of Medicine JacksonvilleJacksonville, FL
Brigham and Womens HospitalBoston, MA
Boston Medical CenterBoston, MA
East Carolina UniversityGreenville, NC
More Trial Locations
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Who Is Running the Clinical Trial?
Duke UniversityLead Sponsor
References
Possible Application of Melatonin in Long COVID. [2022]Clinical sequelae and symptoms for a considerable number of COVID-19 patients can linger for months beyond the acute stage of SARS-CoV-2 infection, "long COVID". Among the long-term consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection, cognitive issues (especially memory loss or "brain fog"), chronic fatigue, myalgia, and muscular weakness resembling myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) are of importance. Melatonin may be particularly effective at reducing the signs and symptoms of SARS-CoV-2 infection due to its functions as an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immuno-modulatory agent. Melatonin is also a chronobiotic medication effective in treating delirium and restoring the circadian imbalance seen in COVID patients in the intensive care unit. Additionally, as a cytoprotector, melatonin aids in the prevention of several COVID-19 comorbidities, including diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and ischemic and non-ischemic cardiovascular diseases. This narrative review discusses the application of melatonin as a neuroprotective agent to control cognitive deterioration ("brain fog") and pain in the ME/CFS syndrome-like documented in long COVID. Further studies on the therapeutic use of melatonin in the neurological sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection are warranted.
"LONG COVID"-A hypothesis for understanding the biological basis and pharmacological treatment strategy. [2022]Infection of humans with SARS-CoV-2 virus causes a disease known colloquially as "COVID-19" with symptoms ranging from asymptomatic to severe pneumonia. Initial pathology is due to the virus binding to the ACE-2 protein on endothelial cells lining blood vessels and entering these cells in order to replicate. Viral replication causes oxidative stress due to elevated levels of reactive oxygen species. Many (~60%) of the infected people appear to have eliminated the virus from their body after 28 days and resume normal activity. However, a significant proportion (~40%) experience a variety of symptoms (loss of smell and/or taste, fatigue, cough, aching pain, "brain fog," insomnia, shortness of breath, and tachycardia) after 12 weeks and are diagnosed with a syndrome named "LONG COVID." Longitudinal clinical studies in a group of subjects who were infected with SARS-CoV-2 have been compared to a non-infected matched group of subjects. A cohort of infected subjects can be identified by a battery of cytokine markers to have persistent, low level grade of inflammation and often self-report two or more troubling symptoms. There is no drug that will relieve their symptoms effectively. It is hypothesized that drugs that activate the intracellular transcription factor, nuclear factor erythroid-derived 2-like 2 (NRF2) may increase the expression of enzymes to synthesize the intracellular antioxidant, glutathione that will quench free radicals causing oxidative stress. The hormone melatonin has been identified as an activator of NRF2 and a relatively safe chemical for most people to ingest chronically. Thus, it is an option for consideration of re-purposing studies in "LONG COVID" subjects experiencing insomnia, depression, fatigue, and "brain fog" but not tachycardia. Appropriately designed clinical trials are required to evaluate melatonin.
Melatonin as a Potential Adjuvant Treatment for COVID-19 beyond Sleep Disorders. [2022]Melatonin is registered to treat circadian rhythm sleep-wake disorders and insomnia in patients aged 55 years and over. The essential role of the circadian sleep rhythm in the deterioration of sleep quality during COVID-19 confinement and the lack of an adverse effect of melatonin on respiratory drive indicate that melatonin has the potential to be a recommended treatment for sleep disturbances related to COVID-19. This review article describes the effects of melatonin additional to its sleep-related effects, which make this drug an attractive therapeutic option for treating patients with COVID-19. The preclinical data suggest that melatonin may inhibit COVID-19 progression. It may lower the risk of the entrance of the SARS-CoV-2 virus into cells, reduce uncontrolled hyper-inflammation and the activation of immune cells, limit the damage of tissues and multiorgan failure due to the action of free radicals, and reduce ventilator-induced lung injury and the risk of disability resulting from fibrotic changes within the lungs. Melatonin may also increase the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccination. The high safety profile of melatonin and its potential anti-SARS-CoV-2 effects make this molecule a preferable drug for treating sleep disturbances in COVID-19 patients. However, randomized clinical trials are needed to verify the clinical usefulness of melatonin in the treatment of COVID-19.
Can Melatonin Be a Potential "Silver Bullet" in Treating COVID-19 Patients? [2023]The therapeutic potential of melatonin as a chronobiotic cytoprotective agent to counteract the consequences of COVID-19 infections has been advocated. Because of its wide-ranging effects as an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and immunomodulatory compound, melatonin could be unique in impairing the consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Moreover, indirect evidence points out to a possible antiviral action of melatonin by interfering with SARS-CoV-2/angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 association. Melatonin is also an effective chronobiotic agent to reverse the circadian disruption of social isolation and to control delirium in severely affected patients. As a cytoprotector, melatonin serves to combat several comorbidities such as diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and ischemic and non-ischemic cardiovascular diseases, which aggravate COVID-19 disease. In view of evidence on the occurrence of neurological sequels in COVID-19-infected patients, another putative application of melatonin emerges based on its neuroprotective properties. Since melatonin is an effective means to control cognitive decay in minimal cognitive impairment, its therapeutic significance for the neurological sequels of SARS-CoV-2 infection should be considered. Finally, yet importantly, exogenous melatonin can be an adjuvant capable of augmenting the efficacy of anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. We discuss in this review the experimental evidence suggesting that melatonin is a potential "silver bullet" in the COVID 19 pandemic.
Evaluation of the efficacy and safety of Melatonin in moderately ill patients with COVID-19: A structured summary of a study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. [2022]We will evaluate the efficacy and safety of Melatonin, compared to the standard therapeutic regimen on clinical symptoms and serum inflammatory parameters in patients with confirmed COVID-19, who are moderately ill.
Lasting treatment effects in a postmarketing surveillance study of prolonged-release melatonin. [2021]Surveillance studies are useful to evaluate how a new medicinal product performs in everyday treatment and how the patient who takes it feels and functions, thereby determining the benefit/risk ratio of the drug under real-life conditions. Prolonged-release melatonin (PRM; Circadin) was approved in Europe for the management of primary insomnia patients age 55 years or older suffering from poor quality of sleep. With traditional hypnotics (e.g. benzodiazepine-receptor agonists), there are concerns about rebound insomnia and/or withdrawal symptoms. We report data from a postmarketing surveillance study in Germany on the effects of 3 weeks of treatment with PRM on sleep in patients with insomnia during treatment and at early (1-2 days) and late (around 2 weeks) withdrawal. In total, 653 patients (597 evaluable) were recruited at 204 sites (mean age 62.7 years, 68% previously treated with hypnotics, 65% women). With PRM treatment, the mean sleep quality (on a scale of 1-5 on which 1 is very good and 5 is very bad) improved from 4.2 to 2.6 and morning alertness improved from 4.0 to 2.5. The improvements persisted over the post-treatment observation period. Rebound insomnia, defined as a one-point deterioration in sleep quality below baseline values, was found in 3.2% (early withdrawal) and 2.0% (late withdrawal). Most of the patients (77%) who used traditional hypnotics before PRM treatment had stopped using them and only 5.6% of naive patients started such drugs after PRM discontinuation. PRM was well tolerated during treatment and the most frequently reported adverse events were nausea (10 patients, 1.5%), dizziness, restlessness and headache (five patients each,
Therapeutic potential of melatonin agonists. [2019]Melatonin, a hormone secreted by the pineal gland, has been successfully employed to improve sleep in both normal patients and insomniacs, and for the treatment of circadian rhythm sleep disorders. Melatonergic MT1 and MT2 receptors exist in high concentrations in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus and have been shown to be instrumental for the sleep-promoting and circadian rhythm-regulating effects of melatonin. A lack of consistency among reports on the therapeutic efficacy of melatonin has been attributed to differences in melatonin's bioavailability and the short half-life of the hormone. In view of the need for longer acting melatonergic agonists that improve sleep efficiency without causing drug abuse or dependency, ramelteon (Rozerem™, Takeda) was developed. Ramelteon, which acts via MT1/MT2 melatonergic agonism, has been found clinically effective for improving total sleep time and sleep efficiency in insomniacs. Agomelatine (Valdoxan™, Servier) is another MT1/MT2 melatonergic agonist that also displays antagonist activity at 5-HT2C serotonin receptors. Agomelatine has been found effective in treating depression and sleep disorders in patients with major depressive disorder. A slow-release preparation of melatonin (Circadin™, Neurim) has been shown to be effective in treating sleep disorders in the elderly population.
Tasimelteon: first global approval. [2022]Tasimelteon (HETLIOZ™) is an orally bioavailable agonist of the melatonin MT1 and MT2 receptors that has been approved in the US for the treatment of non-24-hour sleep-wake disorder. It is the first US FDA-approved medication for this orphan indication. Melatonin is thought to play a role in governing the body's natural sleep-wake cycle through physiological processes regulated in the suprachiasmatic nucleus of the hypothalamus. The hormone is secreted by the pineal gland, with onset typically occurring when daylight begins to dim. In healthy, sighted individuals, the endogenous circadian period is a little over 24 hours, but is entrained to the 24-hour day through exposure to environmental cues, such as light and darkness. In the absence of these cues, synchronisation is lost and the circadian rhythm follows the intrinsic non-24-hour clock, resulting in disorders like non-24-hour sleep-wake disorder. Because the rhythm of endogenous melatonin is considered to be a measure of the human circadian phase, the carefully timed administration of melatonin analogues, such as tasimelteon, can potentially promote circadian readjustment. This article summarizes the milestones in the development of tasimelteon leading to this first approval for the treatment of non-24-hour sleep-wake disorder.
Melatonin for primary insomnia? [2017]Melatonin, a hormone produced by the pineal gland, has a key role in regulating circadian rhythms, most importantly, the sleep-wake cycle. Melatonin's action has led to its being tried as a treatment for a wide range of sleep disorders, such as jet lag, primary insomnia, sleep-wake cycle disruption and sleep problems in children with neuro-developmental disorders. Until recently, it had not been licensed in the UK for any indication. Prolonged-release melatonin (Circadin - Lundbeck) has now been licensed as a treatment for primary insomnia. Here we consider whether this product has a place in the management of people with this condition.
A randomized multicenter clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy of melatonin in the prophylaxis of SARS-CoV-2 infection in high-risk contacts (MeCOVID Trial): A structured summary of a study protocol for a randomised controlled trial. [2022]Primary objective: to evaluate the efficacy of melatonin as a prophylactic treatment on prevention of symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection among healthcare workers at high risk of SARS-CoV-2 exposure. Secondary objectives: To evaluate the efficacy of melatonin as a prophylactic treatment on prevention of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection.To evaluate the efficacy of melatonin to prevent the development of severe COVID-19 in the participants enrolled in this study who develop SARS-CoV-2 infection along the trial.To evaluate the duration of COVID-19 symptoms in participants receiving melatonin before the infection.To evaluate seroconversion timing post-symptom onset. Exploratory objectives:To compare severity of COVID-19 between men and women.To evaluate the influence of sleep and diet on prevention from SARS-CoV-2 infection.To evaluate the effect of melatonin on the incidence and characteristics of lymphopenia and increase of inflammatory cytokines related to COVID-19.