STUDY OBJECTIVES: Several studies have shown that patients with short sleep duration show a poor response to cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I), but such studies have not included patients with comorbid conditions. The current study was conducted to determine whether pretreatment sleep duration moderates the response of patients with major depression and insomnia disorders to a combined CBT-I and antidepressant medication treatment. METHODS: This study comprised a secondary analysis of a larger randomized trial that tested combined CBT-I/antidepressant medication treatment of patients with major depression and insomnia. Participants (n = 99; 70 women; Mage = 47.712.4 years) completed pretreatment polysomnography and then were randomly assigned to a 12-week treatment with antidepressant medication combined with CBT-I or a sham therapy. Short and longer sleepers were defined using total sleep time cutoffs of < 5, < 6, and < 7 hours for short sleep. Insomnia and depression remission ascertained respectively from the Insomnia Severity Index and Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression were used to compare treatment responses of short and longer sleepers defined by the cutoffs mentioned. RESULTS: Logistic regression analyses showed that statistically significant results were obtained only when the cutoff of < 5 hours of sleep was used to define short sleep. Both the CBT-I recipients with < 5 hours of sleep (odds ratio = 0.053; 95% confidence interval = 0.006-0.499) and the sham-therapy group with ≥ 5 hours of sleep (odds ratio = 0.149; 95% confidence interval = 0.045-0.493) were significantly less likely to achieve insomnia remission than were CBT-I recipients with ≥ 5 hours of sleep. The shorter sleeping CBT-I group (odds ratio = 0.118; 95% confidence interval = 0.020-0.714) and longer sleeping sham-therapy group (odds ratio = 0.321; 95% confidence interval = 0.105-0.983) were also less likely to achieve insomnia and/or depression remission than was the longer sleeping CBT-I group with ≥ 5 hours of sleep. CONCLUSIONS: Sleeping < 5 hours may dispose comorbid major depression/insomnia patients to a poor response to combined CBT-I/medication treatments for their insomnia and depression. Future studies to replicate these findings and explore mechanisms of treatment response seem warranted. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: Registry: ClinicalTrials.gov; Name: Treatment of Insomnia and Depression (TRIAD); URL: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/results/NCT00767624; Identifier: NCT00767624. CITATION: Edinger JD, Smith ED, Buysse DJ, et al. Objective sleep duration and response to combined pharmacotherapy and cognitive behavioral insomnia therapy among patients with comorbid depression and insomnia: a report from the TRIAD study. J Clin Sleep Med. 2023;19(6):1111-1120.

OBJECTIVE:Insomnia and major depressive disorders (MDD) often co-occur, and such comorbidity has been associated with poorer outcomes for both conditions. However, individual differences in depressive symptom trajectories during and after treatment are poorly understood in comorbid insomnia and depression. This study explored the heterogeneity in long-term depression change trajectories, and examined their correlates, particularly insomnia-related characteristics. METHOD:Participants were 148 adults (age M ± SD = 46.6 ± 12.6, 73.0% female) with insomnia and MDD who received antidepressant pharmacotherapy, and were randomized to 7-session Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia or control conditions over 16 weeks with 2-year follow-ups. Depression and insomnia severity were assessed at baseline, biweekly during treatment, and every 4 months thereafter. Sleep effort and beliefs about sleep were also assessed. RESULTS:Growth mixture modeling revealed three trajectories: (a) Partial-Responders (68.9%) had moderate symptom reduction during early treatment (p value < .001) and maintained mild depression during follow-ups. (b) Initial-Responders (17.6%) had marked symptom reduction during treatment (p values < .001) and low depression severity at posttreatment, but increased severity over follow-up (p value < .001). (c) Optimal-Responders (13.5%) achieved most gains during early treatment (p value < .001), continued to improve (p value < .01) and maintained minimal depression during follow-ups. The classes did not differ significantly on baseline measures or treatment received, but differed on insomnia-related measures after treatment began (p values < .05): Optimal-Responders consistently endorsed the lowest insomnia severity, sleep effort, and unhelpful beliefs about sleep. CONCLUSIONS:Three depression symptom trajectories were observed among patients with comorbid insomnia and MDD. These trajectories were associated with insomnia-related constructs after commencing treatment. Early changes in insomnia characteristics may predict long-term depression outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record

Study objectives

We previously presented results from a randomized controlled trial that examined the effects of antidepressant medication plus cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) among patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and insomnia. The current secondary analysis aims to examine whether circadian preference moderated the reduction in depression and insomnia symptom severity during this trial.

Methods

A total of 139 adult participants with MDD and insomnia disorder were treated with antidepressant medication and randomized to receive 7 sessions of CBT-I or a control therapy (CTRL). Circadian preference (eveningness) was measured using the Composite Scale of Morningness (CSM). Depression symptom severity was assessed using the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS); insomnia symptom severity was assessed using the Insomnia Severity Inventory (ISI). The moderating role of circadian preference on changes in HRSD and ISI was assessed via latent growth models within the framework of structural equation modeling.

Results

Greater evening preference was associated with smaller reduction in HDRS (P = .03) from baseline to week 6 across treatment groups. The interaction between CSM and treatment group was also significant (P = .02), indicating that participants with greater evening preference in the CTRL group had significantly smaller HDRS reduction than those with greater evening preference in the CBT-I group. Circadian preference did not share significant associations with ISI (all P > .30).

Conclusions

Individuals with MDD and insomnia who have an evening preference are at increased risk for poor response to pharmacological depression treatment augmented with either CBT-I or CTRL behavioral insomnia treatment. However, evening types have better depression outcomes when treated with CBT-I than with CTRL for insomnia.

Background

Poor sleep is common during pregnancy and is associated with increased risk of negative health outcomes. Research indicates that physical discomfort and having an active mind are primary factors for prenatal sleep disturbances. Mindfulness-based interventions have the potential for addressing these factors, but have yet to be optimized for this purpose in this population.

Objective

The objective of this study was to gather input from pregnant and postpartum individuals about the value of a mindfulness-based program for improving prenatal sleep and their preferred content and delivery format.

Methods

We conducted 2 focus groups with 12 pregnant people experiencing poor sleep quality and 3 individual interviews with postpartum people. Interviews were thematically analyzed.

Results

The majority of participants expressed strong interest in a mindfulness program for improving prenatal sleep. Participants reported that pregnancy-specific physical discomfort and worry (both general and pregnancy-specific) affected their sleep. Participants wanted sleep education, and strategies for calming the mind, reducing physical discomfort, reducing impact of bedtime partners on sleep, and tips for improving sleep schedule and quality. Participants recognized the convenience of an online intervention and the social benefits of an in-person intervention and favored a hybrid delivery model.

Conclusion

Addressing prenatal sleep problems is an unmet need. Given the challenges and discomfort women face during pregnancy, and the importance of adequate sleep for promoting mental and physical health during pregnancy, sleep difficulties are critical to address. A mindfulness-based intervention for improving prenatal sleep was deemed of high interest to this perinatal population.

Do people who have low-quality sleep tend to have more negative affect? This question is of great public interest, and many would assume the answer is yes. However, previous findings have been mixed, possibly due to differing measures of sleep and affect, or to a failure to separately examine negative affect reactivity and regulation. Across two studies, we assessed adults perceived sleep quality for at least two weeks and tested their negative affect reactivity and regulation in response to unpleasant pictures (Study 1) or painful thermal stimulation (Study 2) using both self-report and physiological measures. The relationships between perceived sleep quality, on the one hand, and negative affect reactivity and regulation, on the other, were non-significant. Furthermore, a Bayesian approach unanimously favored the null hypothesis. These results suggest that individual differences in perceived sleep quality may not predict negative affect reactivity or regulation across adult individuals.

Study objectives

To determine if patients with childhood onsets (CO) of both major depression and insomnia disorder show blunted depression and insomnia treatment responses to concurrent interventions for both disorders compared to those with adult onsets (AO) of both conditions.

Methods

This study was a secondary analysis of data obtained from a multisite randomized clinical trial designed to test the efficacy of combining a psychological/behavior insomnia therapy with antidepressant medication to enhance depression treatment outcomes in patients with comorbid major depression and insomnia. This study included 27 adults with CO of depression and insomnia and 77 adults with AO of both conditions. They underwent a 16-week treatment including: (1) a standardized two-step pharmacotherapy for depression algorithm, consisting of escitalopram, sertraline, and desvenlafaxine in a prescribed sequence; and (2) either cognitive behavioral insomnia therapy (CBT-I) or a quasi-desensitization control (CTRL) therapy. Main outcome measures were the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD-17) and the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) completed pre-treatment and every 2 weeks thereafter.

Results

The AO and CO groups did not differ significantly in regard to their pre-treatment HRSD-17 and ISI scores. Mixed model analyses that adjusted for the number of insomnia treatment sessions attended showed that the AO group achieved significantly lower, subclinical scores on the HRSD-17 and ISI than did the CO group by the time of study exit. Moreover, a significant group by treatment arm interaction suggested that HRSD-17 scores at study exit remained significantly higher in the CO group receiving the CTRL therapy than was the case for the participants in the CO group receiving CBT-I. Greater proportions of the AO group achieved a priori criteria for remission of insomnia (49.3% vs. 29.2%, p = 0.04) and depression (45.5% vs. 29.6%, p = 0.07) than did those in the CO group.

Conclusions

Patients with comorbid depression and insomnia who experienced the first onset of both disorders in childhood are less responsive to the treatments offered herein than are those with adult onsets of these comorbid disorders. Further research is needed to identify therapies that enhance the depression and insomnia treatment responses of those with childhood onsets of these two conditions.