Older patients who take sleeping pills are more than twice as likely to experience an adverse side-effect as they are to gain better quality of sleep.

Insomnia often interferes with quality of life among older people, and many are prescribed sleeping pills, such as benzodiazepine, to address the problem. But any improvements in sleep gained through use of these drugs can be offset by adverse side effects, including dizziness, balance problems, falls and disorientation.

An analysis of 24 studies carried out between 1966 and 2003 showed that these negative effects were statistically significant, leading researchers to conclude that non-drug treatments might be a better approach to tackling insomnia.

Dizziness, Loss of Balance

A total of 2,417 individuals participated in the studies, which investigated the effects of sedative hypnotics, including both over-the-counter medications, such as antihistamines, and prescription-only drugs like benzodiazepine.

The researchers examined cases involving people 60 and older who took the medications for five consecutive nights, comparing them to people who received placebos.

Psychomotor side effects, such as dizziness or loss of balance, were reported in 13 studies involving 1,016 participants. Seven of the 59 effects that were reported in these studies were serious events -- six falls and one car crash.

Sleep Benefits Slight

There are many potential benefits for people taking sedatives -- such as an increase in sound, uninterrupted sleep, greater ease falling asleep, and longer total sleep time, the researchers acknowledge.

But even though sedatives improve some aspects of sleep, the risk of adverse effects rises with such treatment, they point out. Furthermore, their research indicates that older patients are more than twice as likely to experience an adverse event as they are to gain better quality of sleep from such medications.

The authors note that this comparison is only a rough indicator, because more studies contributed information on harmful events than on sleep benefits.

Improvements in sleep with sedative use are statistically significant, they note, but the size of the effect is small.

"In people over 60, the benefits of these drugs may not justify the increased risk," they conclude.