‘This study of pharmacological treatments is not a recommendation that drugs should always be used as the first line of support to treat insomnia, not least because some of them can have serious side effects. Other findings suggest that there was insufficient evidence to support the prescription of benzodiazepines and zolpidem in the long-term treatment for insomnia. More selective targeting of this pathway and orexin receptors could lead to better pharmacological treatments for insomnia.’The validity of the study’s results should be tempered by the potential limitations of the current analysis. This research is funded by the NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre. The paper, 'Comparative effects of pharmacological interventions for the acute and long-term management of insomnia disorder in adults: a systematic review and network meta-analysis', can be read in The Lancet.
