"A comparison of the effectiveness of two hypnotic agents for the treatment of insomnia".

OBJECTIVE: To compare the effectiveness and tolerability of two hypnotic agents, trazadone (Desyrel) and zaleplon (Sonata) on psychiatric inpatients with insomnia. METHODS: Fifteen patients who were psychiatric inpatients were assigned openly and randomly to receive either trazodone (50-100 mg) or zaleplon (10-20 mg) doses on an "as-needed basis" and followed throughout their hospital stay. Efficacy and side effect profile were subsequently assessed. CONCLUSION: This pilot study suggests that trazodone may be a better agent to promote longer, deeper subjective quality sleep for psychiatric inpatients with insomnia in terms of effectiveness. However, tolerability was much better with zaleplon as daytime residual side effects were less.