THE EFFECTS OF TRIAZOLAM AND RILMAZAFONE ON THE PHYSICAL AND COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS IN HEALTHY ELDERLY PERSONS

「Abstract」The purpose of this study is to investigate whether often used hypnotics are safe or not to elderly people by evaluating the early morning effects and residual effects on the physical and cognitive functions after hypnotic administration. Fourteen healthy elders (3 male, 11 female; mean age 64 years) took part in the study. Triazolam 0.125 mg, rilmazafone hydrochloride 1 mg or placebo was orally given to each subject before going to bed (11 pm). Objective evaluations including 1. Total Sway Path test (opened and closed eye) 2. Functional Reach test 3. Timed Up and Go test 4. Simply Discriminatory Reaction test 5. Critical Flicker Fusion test 6. Short-Term Memory test were done at 10 pm (an hour before subjects went to bed), 4 am, 6 am, 10 am and 2 pm. Among all evaluations for the physical and cognitive functions, main effects between medicines were only seen in the Total Sway Path test, which is the indicator for static balance ability. When eyes were opened, trembling was significantly small in the rilmazafon group compared to the placebo group (p=0.04). In this study, the hypnotics did not affect physical and cognitive functions for healthy elders. Further studies using an interdisciplinary approach with different professionals such nurses, physical therapists, pharmacists and physicians are needed for evaluating the safety use of hypnotics in the elderly patients with insomnia.