Effectiveness of non-pharmacological intervention for insomnia: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Objectives: As chronic sleep deprivation can have devastating effects, sleep disturbances in older adult warrants investigation. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions for insomnia. Methods/ Statistical Analysis: A systematic literature review was used to examine the effectiveness of non-pharmacological therapies on sleep disturbance. We conducted a literature search of Korean and international electronic databases. We reviewed selected 343 publications, 37 studies were analyzed in the meta-analysis. Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software was used to analyze the effect size. Findings: The meta-analysis based on the random effect model showed that the applied interventions improved sleep in older adults (Z = 5.63; 95% CI: 0.55-1.15). Subgroup analysis revealed that exercise was the most effective (95% CI: 0.35-0.88, Z = 4.55), followed by music therapy (95% CI: 0.30-1.16, Z = 3.36). On the contrary, behavior, laughter, massage, and supplementary therapy were not effective. Improvements/Applications: These findings provide comprehensive evidence regarding the efficacy and use of non-pharmacological sleep interventions. Thus, these interventions are available to improve quality of sleep in older adults.