- 2026-06
- Journal of affective disorders 402
- Xusheng Zhang
- Yang Chen
- Renhao Deng
- Shiwan Tao
- Min Zou
- Qiang Wang
Study Design
- Type
- Meta-Analysis
- Population
- depressed patients with insomnia symptoms
- Methods
- Systematic search of PubMed, Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, Embase, and Web of Science; 30 studies (16 RCTs and 14 non-randomized controlled trials) included
Background and purpose
Insomnia is a common symptom in depressive disorder, affecting up to 80% of those patients. Evidences suggest that sleep symptom improvements could alleviating depressive symptoms and reducing relapse. This article evaluated the efficacy of three antidepressants-agomelatine, mirtazapine, and trazodone-in treating insomnia symptoms in depressed patients, with a focus on polysomnographic (PSG) data, subjective sleep experience, improvement in depressive symptoms, and adverse drug reactions.Methods
A systematic search of PubMed, Cochrane Library, MEDLINE, Embase, and Web of Science was conducted for studies published from 1974 to August 2025; 30 studies (16 randomized controlled trials and 14 non-randomized controlled trials) were included. The primary outcomes were PSG measures; secondary outcomes included PSQI and HAMD scores, as well as adverse medication reactions.Results
The PSG results showed that agomelatine may not significantly change percentage N1 of sleep period time (N1%) and Latency of REM sleep (L-REM). Mirtazapine significantly increased total sleep time (TST), slow-wave sleep of sleep period time (SWS%), and sleep efficiency (SE%), while reducing percentage wake after sleep onset of sleep period time (WASO%). Trazodone notably improved TST, and SE%. For adverse effects, agomelatine was well-tolerated; mirtazapine commonly caused weight gain and sedation; and trazodone frequently led to dizziness, sedation, headache, nausea, and somnolence.Conclusion
All three medications significantly enhance subjective sleep perception and alleviate depressive symptoms. However, agomelatine may lack a definitive effect on improving objective sleep parameters in depressed patients. Future studies should involve larger, high-quality trials with unified methodologies to strengthen the reliability of conclusions.