Melatonin -- a Promising Candidate for Prevention and Treatment of COVID-19

Melatonin a Promising Candidate for Prevention and Treatment of COVID-19 (2020, News article)

"...
Melatonin usage may help prevent COVID-19 infection
Analysis of patient data from Cleveland Clinic’s COVID-19 registry also revealed that melatonin usage was associated with a nearly 30% reduced likelihood of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 after adjusting for age, race, smoking history and various disease comorbidities. Notably, the reduced likelihood of testing positive for the virus increased from 30 to 52 percent for African Americans when adjusted for the same variables.

“It is very important to note these findings do not suggest people should start to take melatonin without consulting their physician,” said Feixiong Cheng, PhD, assistant staff in Cleveland Clinic’s Genomic Medicine Institute and lead author on the study. “Large-scale observational studies and randomized controlled trials are critical to validate the clinical benefit of melatonin for patients with COVID-19, but we are excited about the associations put forth in this study and the opportunity to further explore them.”
..."

This is the journal paper:

A network medicine approach to investigation and population-based validation of disease manifestations and drug repurposing for COVID-19 (2020, Full Text)

"Abstract

The global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has led to unprecedented social and economic consequences. The risk of morbidity and mortality due to COVID-19 increases dramatically in the presence of coexisting medical conditions, while the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Furthermore, there are no approved therapies for COVID-19. This study aims to identify SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis, disease manifestations, and COVID-19 therapies using network medicine methodologies along with clinical and multi-omics observations. We incorporate SARS-CoV-2 virus–host protein–protein interactions, transcriptomics, and proteomics into the human interactome. Network proximity measurement revealed underlying pathogenesis for broad COVID-19-associated disease manifestations. Analyses of single-cell RNA sequencing data show that co-expression of ACE2 and TMPRSS2 is elevated in absorptive enterocytes from the inflamed ileal tissues of Crohn disease patients compared to uninflamed tissues, revealing shared pathobiology between COVID-19 and inflammatory bowel disease. Integrative analyses of metabolomics and transcriptomics (bulk and single-cell) data from asthma patients indicate that COVID-19 shares an intermediate inflammatory molecular profile with asthma (including IRAK3 and ADRB2). To prioritize potential treatments, we combined network-based prediction and a propensity score (PS) matching observational study of 26,779 individuals from a COVID-19 registry. We identified that melatonin usage (odds ratio [OR] = 0.72, 95% CI 0.56–0.91) is significantly associated with a 28% reduced likelihood of a positive laboratory test result for SARS-CoV-2 confirmed by reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction assay. Using a PS matching user active comparator design, we determined that melatonin usage was associated with a reduced likelihood of SARS-CoV-2 positive test result compared to use of angiotensin II receptor blockers (OR = 0.70, 95% CI 0.54–0.92) or angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (OR = 0.69, 95% CI 0.52–0.90). Importantly, melatonin usage (OR = 0.48, 95% CI 0.31–0.75) is associated with a 52% reduced likelihood of a positive laboratory test result for SARS-CoV-2 in African Americans after adjusting for age, sex, race, smoking history, and various disease comorbidities using PS matching. In summary, this study presents an integrative network medicine platform for predicting disease manifestations associated with COVID-19 and identifying melatonin for potential prevention and treatment of COVID-19."

(Emphasis mine. See the Full Text)

A Cleveland Clinic news article on the study:

Cleveland Clinic Researchers Use “Big Data” Approach to Identify Melatonin as Possible COVID-19 Treatment


I happen to take melatonin (along with trazodone) to help me sleep through the night. No problem at all falling asleep, but I tend to wake up (completely) in the middle of the night. 5 mg slow release melatonin seems to be the formulation that works best for me.

I would note the words "promising" and "candidate" in the first title and the admonition that folks shouldn't just start taking melatonin without an OK from their doc. Nonetheless, I have a hunch sales will rise. At least it's got a better safety profile than bleach.

Djin

JNF, thanks for the info. I am doing the rest but get my zinc through a multi-vitamin. I have noticed that Zicam has had some legal/civil issues over the years.

Being retired I don’t have to go to a job but I am attending college classes. We are distanced and masked. I have 4 art classes and enrollment is low so distancing is easy to achieve. My primary social outlet is running several times a week with a small group where we run outside. I do go to the gym at the university a couple time per week to swim. I am usually the only one in the pool and the locker room due to the time of day. My wife is a CPA and runs her business out of a home office. She quit seeing nearly all clients face-to-face in our home last March and meets over the phone and they drive up and drop off paperwork, which sits in a quarantine area after arrival.

I live in a hotspot of late and try to do my shopping during quite hours. We have LOTS of people who refuse to wear masks and look like they just dare someone to challenge them. I avoid them as much as possible.

I have been in the hospital 4 times in 2020.
I have had patients in rooms around me.
I tested negative 3 times.
I also take Trazodone and Melatonin nightly.
Makes me think....