Clinical ReviewMedication induced sleepwalking: A systematic review
Section snippets
Medication induced sleepwalking: A review of the evidence
Sleepwalking, or somnambulism, occurs in non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep, predominantly during slow wave sleep (SWS) [1] and appears as a disorder of arousal regulation [see [2] for a review]. While frequently innocuous, it can result in injury to the sleepwalker, to others, and sometimes even death [e.g., [3], [4], [5]]. The estimated prevalence of sleepwalking is 5.0% (95% CI 3.8–6.5) in children and 1.5% (95% CI 1.0–2.3) in adults [6]. There is no difference in lifetime prevalence rates
Method
This systematic review examined studies that reported prescribed medication linked to sleepwalking behavior. The following databases were included in the identification of relevant studies: CINAHL, EMBASE, PsycINFO, PubMed, and ScienceDirect. Initial search terms were ‘sleepwalking’ or ‘somnambulism’. Studies were included if they reported clinical trials, cases studies or case reports involving prescribed drug-induced sleepwalking in any field. Studies were excluded if: 1) they included
Results
Fig. 1 displays the flow of information through the different phases of the systematic review. A total of 62 studies describing medication-induced sleepwalking were identified. All but four studies were case reports. One case study of paroxetine-induced sleepwalking was published in two different journals [38], [39]—only one is discussed [39] in this review.
Table 1 provides a summary of the class of drug, drug name, number of studies for each drug type, year published, study design, number of
Discussion
Drugs that affect neurophysiology during sleep have the potential to trigger sleepwalking in people with and without a prior history of sleepwalking. The aim of this study was to systematically review the literature to identify drugs that have been identified to trigger sleepwalking. Twenty-nine drugs, primarily in four classes (benzodiazepine receptor agonists, antidepressants and other serotonergic agents, antipsychotics, and β-blockers) were identified as possible risk factors for
Conflicts of interest
The authors do not have any conflicts of interest to disclose.
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