Sleeping pills are they worth the risks?(CR: Health)(Buyers guide)

Publication: Consumer Reports

Bookmark this article Print this article Link to this article Email this article Digg It! Add to del.icio.us RSS

COPYRIGHT 2006 Consumers Union of the United States, Inc.

The green Luna moth that twinkles through TV ads for the sleeping pill Lunesta (eszopiclone) has been a hard insect to ignore. Since the April 2005 rollout of the drug, its manufacturer, Sepracor, has spent $227 million, making Lunesta the drug most frequently advertised to the public last year. That seems to have forced the market leader, Ambien (zolpidem), to buy more ad time and shore up its spot as the 14th-most-prescribed drug in the U.S.

The ad blitz may be working. Pharmacists filled 43 million prescriptions for sleep drugs in 2005; that's a 32 percent increase from 2001.

Does this mean the U.S. is in the throes of a huge sleep crisis? And if so, is a sleeping pill really the best way to cope?

To help you decide, a new report from the Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs public information initiative examined how sleeping pills stack up against one another (see table, on facing page) and against other techniques for improving sleep. The report is the latest in a series that recommends drugs for such problems as heartburn, high blood pressure, and pain, based on the scientific analysis of the Drug Effectiveness Review Project. Fifteen states fund that project and use the findings...

Read the full article for free courtesy of your local library.