11/05/2025
Back again today to again temper some of the news articles coming out that have information or headlines that may be a bit concerning.
The American Heart Association released a report regarding melatonin and heart risk. I read through it and there's several pieces I want to highlight as the majority of these were not included in my local news article I saw about this. Many headlines are saying "extended melatonin leads to an increased risk of heart failure".
I'll first name, I'm only translating the actual information released from the AHA. I can't say whether there is or is not any risk. I'm sharing this info here as many ADHDers utilize melatonin to help regulate sleep and may be concerned when reading news headlines. Low dose melatonin is actually recommended for folks with Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome which is much more prevalent in ADHDers though its used differently than when used to assist with sleep onset. We should always ask further questions about any research before panicking. (Ironically, I'm actually offering a training about ADHD and sleep this Friday)
Here are a few direct quotes from the American Heart Associations website that feel important to point out.
"A review of 5 years of health records for more than 130,000 adults with insomnia who had used melatonin for at least a year found they were more likely to be diagnosed with heart failure, require hospitalization for the condition or die from any cause."
-Notice "or die from any cause" is included here, that indicates there may be other non heart related reasons this population was dying.
"The association between melatonin and increased risk of heart failure or death found in this study, which cannot prove a cause-and-effect relationship, raises safety concerns about the use of melatonin, which is widely available, and may warrant more research on melatonin to assess its cardiovascular safety, researchers said."
- what's important here is the words association, and they are admitting this research does not prove a cause and effect relationship
"Statements and conclusions of studies that are presented at the American Heart Association’s scientific meetings are solely those of the study authors and do not necessarily reflect the Association’s policy or position. The Association makes no representation or guarantee as to their accuracy or reliability."
- At this point in time this study hasn't event been submitted nor accepted and included into a peer reviewed journal. Even the American Heart Association is saying they're not willing to stand behind this data.
"The study included 130,828 adults (average age of 55.7 years; 61.4% women) diagnosed with insomnia."
The fact that the average age was 55 within this study feels important when talking about heart failure. While not always the primary cause of death, everyone's heart stops when they die.
"The study has several limitations. First, the database includes countries that require a prescription for melatonin (such as the United Kingdom) and countries that don’t (such as the United States), and patient locations were not part of the de-identified data available to the researchers. Since melatonin use in the study was based only on those identified from medication entries in the electronic health record, everyone taking it as an over-the-counter supplement in the U.S. or other countries that don’t require a prescription would have been in the non-melatonin group; therefore, the analyses may not accurately reflect this."
-Essentially they are saying there's a high likelihood many people considered to be in the "non melatonin" group actually were taking melatonin since only people prescribed melatonin (countries outside of US) were included in the melatonin group. So, they're control group really wasn't well controlled.
I can't tell you whether it's safe or not and I always recommend consulting with your medical provider. I just wanted to share some things that stuck out to me when I evaluate research based on what I was taught in research classes in both undergrad and graduate school. Given that our government has recently been doing similar things in misrepresenting research (RFK Jr. actually publicly admitted that what they initially said about autism and Tylenol was not accurate last week, but of course thats not been shared as widely as the original inaccurate release), it feels important to provide some education on things to look for and notice when reviewing research. My own ADHD leads me to have a complicated relationship with research articles. I struggle to read them completely, but also can easily get wrapped up in a rabbit hole of connecting all the dots and learning new things.
https://newsroom.heart.org/news/long-term-use-of-melatonin-supplements-to-support-sleep-may-have-negative-health-effects
