What works and what doesn't for chronic sleeplessness

Can't sleep? Then spend your extra awake time reading the latest installment of Implementing AHRQ Effective Care Reviews in the September 1 issue of American Family Physician, on management of insomnia disorder in adults. This evidence review, which supported an American College of Physicians practice guideline, examined the effectiveness of behavioral therapies and medications for adults with insomnia disorder, defined as "poor sleep quality or quantity that causes distress or dysfunction and lasts for longer than three months."

The most beneficial sleep intervention overall is cognitive behavior therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), which produced sustained improvements for at least 6 months. CBT-I consists of cognitive therapy, sleep restriction and stimulus control, and sleep hygiene education. Medications that have sufficient evidence demonstrating improvement in short-term (3 months or less) sleep outcomes include eszopiclone, zolpidem, and suvorexant; there was insufficient data to evaluate benzodiazepines or over-the-counter sleep aids (diphenhydramine, doxylamine, or melatonin). For most patients, medications should not be prescribed for longer than five weeks.

Physicians commonly prescribe antipsychotic medications off-label to treat insomnia in older persons. The Practice Guidelines in the September 15 issue summarized a Canadian guideline for deprescribing antipsychotics for behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia and insomnia, produced by the Deprescribing Guidelines in the Elderly Project. Due to the potential harms of these medications and the lack of evidence of benefits (a single randomized trial with 13 participants found nonsignificant differences in sleep latency in patients taking quetiapine), the guideline recommends that antipsychotics prescribed for primary or secondary insomnia in which comorbidities are under control be discontinued without tapering, regardless of treatment duration.

AFP's sister journal, FPM, recently published an article on deprescribing unnecessary medications that featured a four-step process (review current medications; identify inappropriate, unnecessary, or harmful medications; plan deprescribing with the patient; and regularly re-review medications) and links to additional resources on medication reconciliation and deprescribing.

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This post first appeared on the AFP Community Blog.