Impact of Escitalopram on polysomno-graphically recorded sleep and daytime vigilance compared to Amitriptyline and placebo in healthy male subjects

Introduction: We investigated the acute impact of 10mg escitalopram (ESCIT), the s-enantiomer of citalopram, on polysomnographic sleep and daytime vigilance in comparison to 75mg amitriptyline (AMI) and placebo (PLAC) with a double-blind cross-over design. Sleep parameters were recorded by standard polysomnography including a multiple sleep latency test (MSLT). Tricyclic antidepressants (TCA) like AMI generally enhance sleep continuity (SC) (e.g. increased total sleep time (TST), sleep efficiancy (SE) or decreased wake time after sleep onset (WASO) as well as sleep latency (SL)). For both SSRI and TCA an associa…