A cure for insomnia turned out to be dangerous: scientists sound the alarm

Australian scientists have found that low doses of quetiapine, which is frequently prescribed for insomnia, do indeed help people sleep longer and wake up less often during the night. However, the very next day, the drug noticeably impairs reaction time, attention, and driving skills.

The study was published in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society (AATS).

Quetiapine was originally developed for the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. However, in practice, doctors frequently prescribe it in low doses to patients with insomnia and anxiety — owing to the drug's powerful sedative effect.

Researchers from Flinders University set out to determine how safe this practice actually is. Their focus was on patients with obstructive sleep apnea — a condition in which breathing periodically stops during sleep. Many of these individuals also suffer from insomnia and frequent nighttime awakenings.

The experiment involved 15 adult volunteers. Each of them spent two nights in a sleep laboratory: in one instance, participants took 50 mg of quetiapine, and in the other — a placebo. After overnight monitoring, the scientists assessed sleep quality, and the following morning they tested attention and the ability to operate a vehicle using a specialized simulator.

The results showed that after taking the drug, volunteers did indeed sleep more efficiently and experienced fewer breathing interruptions. Blood oxygen levels did not decrease. But the nighttime benefit came at the cost of a serious decline in daytime performance.

Those who took quetiapine showed noticeably slower reaction times, more frequent lapses in attention, and significantly impaired vehicle control during the driving simulation. All of these indicators are considered key risk factors for road traffic accidents.

Of particular concern to the researchers was the fact that some participants did not feel drowsy at all, even though objective tests recorded a clear decline in their cognitive abilities.

"The discrepancy between how a person feels and how they actually function creates a serious safety risk, especially when driving," emphasized the study's lead author, Cricket Fawska.

As a safer alternative, the scientists recommend cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia, as well as more thorough screening of patients for sleep-disordered breathing before prescribing sedative medications.