Pharmacotherapies for sleep disturbances in dementia
Worth asking the prescriber how, after a couple of weeks, you will together judge whether trazodone is actually helping sleep in dementia, since the supporting evidence is one small short trial.
Top of the evidence hierarchy, independently funded. how we score evidence
Caveat on this rating: The trazodone evidence in this Cochrane review comes from one trial of 30 people over two weeks; effects on night-time awakenings and daytime sleep appeared negligible, and longer-term safety in dementia is untested.
In people with moderate-to-severe Alzheimer's disease, a single 30-person trial found trazodone 50 mg for two weeks may add about 42 minutes of nighttime sleep and improve sleep efficiency by about 8.5 percentage points, with no serious adverse effects reported, but the evidence is low certainty.
Worth asking
Worth asking the prescriber how, after a couple of weeks, you will together judge whether trazodone is actually helping sleep in dementia, since the supporting evidence is one small short trial.
What it is FDA approved for
Read off the label. Trial duration and approval year are shown only where they were recorded — never inferred.
- Major depressive disorder
Source
Pharmacotherapies for sleep disturbances in dementia — McCleery J, Sharpley AL (2020)
Top-tier peer-reviewed journal
Read the source: https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD009178.pub4
DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD009178.pub4
How this was scored
- Study design
- Systematic review of randomised trials
- Funding
- Independently funded
- Published in
- Top-tier peer-reviewed journal
- Sample size
- 30
- Preregistered
- Yes
- Conflicts disclosed
- Yes
- Independent of proponent
- Yes
- Retracted
- No
Read the full scoring rubric, including what it can't tell you.
Published August 19, 2026.
Questions
How strong is the evidence behind this?
Resolv rates this source "gold standard". Top of the evidence hierarchy, independently funded. It scores 91 out of 100 on our published rubric. One caveat travels with that badge: The trazodone evidence in this Cochrane review comes from one trial of 30 people over two weeks; effects on night-time awakenings and daytime sleep appeared negligible, and longer-term safety in dementia is untested. The score is calculated from recorded facts about the source — study design, funding, publication venue, sample size, preregistration — not typed in by an editor.
What is the source for this?
Pharmacotherapies for sleep disturbances in dementia — McCleery J, Sharpley AL (2020). Published in: Top-tier peer-reviewed journal. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD009178.pub4. The full source is linked on this page so you can read it yourself.
Who paid for this research, and does that matter?
Study design: Systematic review of randomised trials. Funding: Independently funded. The researchers were independent of whoever benefits from the result. Industry sponsorship is one of the most reliably measured biases in medicine, which is why funding carries real weight in the score rather than sitting in a footnote.
Is trazodone (Desyrel, Oleptro), desyrel, oleptro FDA approved?
Yes — FDA approved for Major depressive disorder. Approval is for a specific indication, not for everything the drug is prescribed for.
Is this medical advice?
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.