Table 2. Comparison of suvorexant and zolpidem: likely benefits and risks.

	possibly suvorexant better	possibly zolpidem better	not enough data to guess
Immediate Benefits
decreased sleep latency		X
decreased wake after sleep onset	X
increased total nightly sleep			X
Immediate Risks
daytime sleepiness and fatigue			X
impaired driving		X
impaired performance		X
narcoleptiform symptoms		X
amnesia, anxiety, hallucinations			X
complex sleep behaviors			X
depression and suicidal thoughts			X
withdrawal insomnia		X
infections	X
respiratory depression			X
falls	X
addiction/abuse potential			X
Long-term Risks & Benefits
dementia	?
cancer	?
mortality vs survival			?

X Based on somewhat-parallel placebo-controlled-trials studies but no comparative-trials studies

? Based only on non-comparative epidemiology and scientific speculation