A comparison of the hypnotic activity of loprazolam, temazepam and placebo in general practice.

One hundred and ninety-seven patients exhibiting a disturbed sleep pattern were recruited by thirty-five general practitioners into this single-blind randomized parallel group multicentre study. There were twelve patient withdrawals or drop-outs leaving sixty-one, sixty-three and sixty-one patients who, following 2 nights on placebo as baseline, completed 5 consecutive nights of treatment on loprazolam (1 mg), temazepam (20 mg) and placebo, respectively. Loprazolam and temazepam were found to have similar hypnotic activity with both treatments being superior to placebo. There was no statistical difference in the side-effect profile of the three treatment groups.