Melatonin can be used to perform multiple-breath washout during sleep in infants and toddlers with cystic fibrosis, representing 'a safe, feasible, and less time-consuming alternative compared to sedatives.'
Sleep was achieved in all seven infants and toddlers with cystic fibrosis who received melatonin prior to multiple-breath washout testing.
Five of seven MBW investigations were successfully accomplished following melatonin-induced sleep.
A final melatonin dose of 10 mg was used to achieve natural sleep sufficient for MBW testing in all participants.
Melatonin was identified as a safe and feasible alternative to sedation for performing MBW in young children with CF.
Multiple-breath washout requires minimal cooperation compared to spirometry and can only be successfully performed during sleep in infants and toddlers.
This research suggests that melatonin can be used to help infants and toddlers with cystic fibrosis fall asleep naturally so that lung function tests called multiple-breath washout (MBW) can be performed. MBW is a valuable test for detecting early lung disease in children with cystic fibrosis, but it requires the child to breathe steadily and calmly — something very young children can only reliably do while asleep. Until now, this has usually meant using sedative medications, which carry their own risks and logistical challenges. In this small study at a Belgian children's hospital, seven children aged 3 to 33 months were given melatonin (a natural sleep hormone) before their scheduled MBW tests. All seven children fell asleep after receiving a 10 mg dose of melatonin, and five of the seven tests were completed successfully. The entire process took a median of 87 minutes, which the researchers considered relatively quick compared to sedation-based approaches. This research suggests that using melatonin to induce natural sleep is a potentially safer, practical, and time-efficient way to conduct lung function testing in very young children with cystic fibrosis without resorting to sedation. However, the study was very small — only seven children — and the authors themselves emphasize that larger future studies are needed to confirm whether melatonin-based MBW testing can be reliably adopted in clinical practice.
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Upload Your LabsJouret N, Verhulst S, Van Hoorenbeeck K. (2026). Melatonin to Induce Natural Sleep During Multiple-Breath Washout in Infants and Toddlers With Cystic Fibrosis.. Pediatric pulmonology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ppul.71688