RESUMO
The incidence of next-day anterograde amnesia was evaluated in hospitalized patients who received flurazepam hydrochloride or triazolam. A blinded observer assessed memory and daytime drowsiness in 154 patients after the bedtime ingestion of flurazepam hydrochloride (n = 54), triazolam (n = 49), or no hypnotic drug (n = 51). The hypnotic agents were administered before midnight. At approximately 0800 the next morning, the patients were shown a picture of an object on colored construction paper and asked to remember it as well as the color of the background. Both the observer and patient assessed drowsiness using the Stanford Sleepiness Scale. The observer also made a note of the items on the patient's breakfast tray. Patients were then revisited at 1100 and asked to recall the object in the picture, the color of the background, and at least three items from their breakfast tray. Ten of the 54 patients in the flurazepam group failed to recall all three items compared with only two in the triazolam group and two in the control group. The 14 patients who experienced memory impairment were significantly more drowsy at 0800 than those who were able to recall the items. Next-day anterograde amnesia occurred more frequently in patients who received flurazepam hydrochloride than in those who received triazolam or no hypnotic drug. This effect may be related to the next-day drowsiness caused by flurazepam and its slowly eliminated active metabolite.
