Laboratorios Viñas at the SEMERGEN National Congress in Valencia

The 37th National Congress of the Spanish Association of Primary Care Doctors (SEMERGEN) was held in Valencia from 14th to 17th October 2015. The congress was attended by over 3,800 doctors and more than 2,500 events were held, demonstrating how interested primary care professionals are in training and keeping up to date with new developments.

Among these events was the Satellite Symposium organised by Laboratorios Viñas entitled “Sleep and mood disorders: a frequent connection” which was moderated by Dr. E. Zamorano (National Coordinator of the SEMERGEN Sleep Section Work Group) in which Dr. J. C. Caballero (General Practitioner and Geriatrics Specialist, expert in sleep, from Bilbao) and Dr. J. L. Galmés (Head of Clinical Research at Laboratorios Viñas) took part.

The panel discussed a common problem, insomnia associated with low moods, which triggers a vicious circle that can even lead to depression.

After analysing the many aspects of the problem, Dr. Caballero discussed various ways of treating it from a medical point of view, emphasising that abuse of benzodiazepines should be stopped, while Dr. J. L. Galmés focused on explaining a new combination of active substances, MelatoZinc, the composition of which contains melatonin and zinc, and which may be suitable and complementary when used as a first-line therapy in patients who suffer from these disorders. On the one hand, melatonin improves sleep quality and, on the other, zinc acts directly on mood and cognitive function, and both substances are very safe to use.

Interest in the matter was reflected by the large number of doctors who attended and in the many questions that were asked during the final discussion.