RAMELTEON FOR SLEEP INITIATION IN PD PTS ALSO ON ESCITALOPRAM FOR ANXIETY

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Sleep disturbances in turn may exacerbate underlying anxiety/panic attacks. Moreover, individuals with insomnia are at higher risk of developing a new anxiety disorder. Therefore it is expected that improving sleep quality with medications along with other medications to treat anxiety component of panic disorder might be helpful. However, there is lack of pharamacological studies examining the effects of improving sleep disturbances with medications in panic disorder patients, which is a critical problem for providing optimal care to these patients. With the long-term goal of improving care of patients who suffer from PD, the objective of this proposal is to determine the effects of ramelteon on sleep disturbances in PD patients who are on other medications for underlying anxiety. Our hypothesis for the proposed research is that ramelteon will improve sleep quality in panic disorder patients.