Citation

Cohen PA, Avula B, Wang YH, Katragunta K, Khan I. J. Am. Med. Assoc. JAMA 2023; 329(16): 1401-1402.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, American Medical Association)

DOI

10.1001/jama.2023.2296

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, melatonin was used by an estimated 1.3% of children in the US, most commonly for sleep, stress, and relaxation. Despite the lack of high-quality evidence to support melatonin's efficacy for these indications in healthy children, use increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Calls for pediatric melatonin ingestions to US Poison Control Centers increased 530% from 2012 to 2021 and were associated with 27 795 emergency department and clinic visits, 4097 hospitalizations, 287 intensive care unit admissions, and 2 deaths.Melatonin products are not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Instead, they are sold over the counter as dietary supplements or food, and some products include prohibited drugs such as cannabidiol (CBD). Given that children might intentionally or unintentionally ingest melatonin gummies, we assessed the actual quantity of melatonin and CBD in these products compared with the quantities declared on the labels.

Language: en