- Design
- Retrospective chart review, no control group
- Population
- 155 adults with insomnia; 42 tapering sleep medication
- Primary outcome
- Self-reported sleep measures and hypnotic discontinuation
- Effect
- All sleep measures improved (P<0.001); about 67% of tapering group stopped hypnotics
A retrospective chart review in Family Practice, published on 6 October 2026, looked at 155 patients treated with a hybrid model of cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia: telehealth sessions with trained clinicians plus lessons and sleep logs on an online portal. Forty-two of them were also tapering sleep medication.
Self-reported total sleep time, time to fall asleep, time awake after sleep onset and sleep efficiency all improved from baseline (P below 0.001). About 67% of those tapering hypnotics stopped them completely.
There was no control group, data were self-reported, and the study was conducted by the service's own team, so the size of the effect cannot be separated from natural improvement or selection. Its use is as a sign that remote CBT-I with medication tapering is feasible, which matters where in-person therapists are scarce.
- Offer CBT for insomnia as first-line treatment, remotely if in-person therapy is not available.
- Combine CBT-I with a gradual hypnotic taper rather than stopping abruptly.
- Use a sleep diary to track progress and support the taper.
- Treat this service evaluation as feasibility evidence, not proof of a specific product.
Why it matters
Lack of access is the usual reason CBT-I is skipped for a prescription; remote delivery removes part of that barrier.
Don't overread it
An uncontrolled chart review by the service provider — it cannot show the programme caused the improvement.
The statistics, in plain English
The P values compare each patient with themselves before and after treatment. Without a comparison group, some improvement may have happened anyway.
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