Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine (CCJM)Quetiapine for Primary Insomnia: Consider the Risks

To sum up the reasons you should use caution:

• Quetiapine has a variety of effects, including sedation, influencing a number of central nervous system receptors.
• Quetiapine should only be used to treat insomnia in patients who also have co-occurring mood or schizophrenia spectrum disorders.
• Quetiapine is less frequently linked to extrapyramidal side effects and dystonia than many other antipsychotic medications, but it is more frequently linked to weight gain, metabolic syndrome, and QTc prolongation.
• Prior to beginning treatment and then on a frequent basis thereafter, measurements of body mass index, weight, blood pressure, fasting glucose, and lipid levels should be made, even at modest doses.
• Despite not producing euphoria, quetiapine is frequently misused to amplify or lessen the negative effects of illegal substances.
• For older patients, quetiapine has additional dangers.