Lormetazepam and amobarbital sodium in the outpatient treatment of insomnia: A controlled trial

In a double-blind clinical trial, 50 psychiatric outpatients with moderate insomnia (requiring daily treatment with a hypnotic drug) were treated for two weeks with lormetazepam (1 mg) or amobarbital sodium (100 mg). In interviews before and after treatment, data were collected on the patients' demographic characteristics, sleep disturbances, concomitant organic or psychiatric disorders, and opinions of the drug taken during the two-week period. During the trial the patients took notes on their use of the drug, the quality and duration of their sleep, and any adverse effects of the drug they were using. Lormetazepam and amobarbital were equivalent in the amount of time it took patients receiving each drug to fall asleep and in the duration of the patients' sleep, but insomnia disappeared (or the condition improved) in a larger proportion of patients receiving lormetazepam, and there were fewer adverse effects (e.g. hangover in the morning, sedation in the morning and during the day, and dry mouth) in patients receiving lormetazepam than in patients receiving amobarbital.