Impact of zolpidem and lemborexant on sleep and morning symptoms when used as a single dose for polysomnography.

This study evaluated the effect of zolpidem and lemborexant on sleep and morning symptoms in patients undergoing type-1 polysomnography for suspected sleep-disordered breathing based on questionnaires and polysomnography results. We enrolled 127 patients (lemborexant: N = 57, zolpidem: N  = 25, without hypnotics: N  = 45). Rapid eye movement sleep in patients on lemborexant was higher than that in patients without hypnotics ( P  = 0.02). Frequency of unsteadiness in the morning was higher in patients on zolpidem than that in patients without hypnotics ( P  = 0.04), which remained after adjustment for potential confounders ( P  = 0.03). Low-dose lemborexant might be suitable when administered as a single dose during polysomnography.