Oral magnesium supplementation for insomnia in older adults: a Systematic Review & Meta-Analysis.
Level 1 - systematic review of randomized trials
Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials
PubMed 33865376 · doi:10.1186/s12906-021-03297-z
What was done
A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials was conducted via MEDLINE, EMBASE, Allied and Complementary Medicine, clinicaltrials.gov, and two grey literature databases to assess the effectiveness and safety of oral magnesium compared to placebo or no treatment for older adults with insomnia. Primary outcomes were sleep quality, quantity, and adverse events, evaluated using RoB 2.0 and GRADE.
What was found
Three randomized controlled trials involving 151 older adults were analyzed. Oral magnesium significantly reduced sleep onset latency by 17.36 minutes compared to placebo (95% CI -27.27 to -7.44, p = 0.0006). Total sleep time increased by 16.06 minutes with magnesium, but the change was not statistically significant. All trials had moderate-to-high risk of bias, and outcomes were supported by low to very low quality evidence.
Why it matters
While oral magnesium is widely used and inexpensive, the current randomized evidence base is substandard and insufficient to strongly support clinical recommendations for insomnia in older adults.
Limits
The total evidence base was extremely small, comprising only three trials and 151 participants. All included trials carried moderate-to-high risk of bias, resulting in low to very low certainty of evidence, and safety or adverse event data were not reported in the abstract.