Insomnia: A Review of the Use of Eszopiclone

Natalie D Dautovich,Jacob M Williams,Christina S Mccrae

doi:10.4137/cmt.s1940

Abstract

The present paper presents a review of the literature examining the efficacy of eszopiclone for treating insomnia. The purpose of the paper was to evaluate both the statistical and clinical efficacy of eszopiclone for treating insomnia. Both subjective and objective assessments of insomnia were evaluated across various sleep variables. Additionally, the efficacy of eszopiclone for treating insomnia comorbid with other conditions (sleep disordered breathing, psychiatric diagnoses, peri/post-menopause, rheumatoid arthritis), transient insomnia, and across diverse samples (adults, older adults, and samples pooled by race) was reviewed. Finally, the impact of eszopiclone use on daytime functioning was examined.

Highlights

Insomnia involves difficulty initiating and/or maintaining sleep, or nonrestorative sleep.[1]
The review of the literature shows that, overall, eszopiclone is efficacious for the treatment of primary insomnia in adults, with insomnia comorbid with other disorders, and with specific populations
The small number of studies investigating the use of eszopiclone with disorders comorbid with insomnia or with specific populations prevents us from drawing broad conclusions from the results but, instead, present introductory findings that will hopefully lead to further research on these specific disorders/populations

Summary

Introduction

Insomnia involves difficulty initiating and/or maintaining sleep, or nonrestorative sleep.[1] In addition to impaired nocturnal sleep, individuals diagnosed with insomnia experience impairments in daytime functioning. Insomnia can result from endogenous abnormalities in sleep (primary insomnia), it can co-occur with other conditions that disrupt sleep (comorbid insomnia), or be symptomatic of other conditions (secondary insomnia). Regardless of the etiology, insomnia places a strain on society. Difficulty sleeping is a significant concern with almost two-thirds of the population complaining of poor sleep in general.[2] While 4% of the population report receiving a diagnosis of insomnia, only 2% report receiving treatment. There is a need for efficacious approaches to treating insomnia. The traditional pharmaceutical approach to treating insomnia has been the use of benzodiazepines. Nonbenzodiazepine agents have begun to replace benzodiazepines for the treatment of insomnia

Objectives

Methods

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Discussion

Conclusion