Voice-activated CBT for insomnia works for breast cancer survivors

An in-home, voice-activated cognitive behavioural therapy for insomnia (CBT-I) program appears to help breast cancer survivors sleep, according to a study.

The study included 76 female patients (mean age 61.2 years, 64.5 percent were married or partnered) with breast cancer who were experiencing insomnia (Insomnia Severity Index [ISI] score >7). All patients had completed curative treatment more than 3 months before enrolment and had not undergone other behavioural sleep treatments in the prior year.

The patients were randomly allocated to groups who underwent a voice-interactive CBT-I program or an educational control for 6 weeks. Changes in ISI scores were assessed as the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes included sleep quality, wake after sleep onset, sleep onset latency, total sleep time, and sleep efficiency.

A total of 70 patients (92.1 percent) completed the study. From baseline to follow-up, ISI scores decreased with a significantly greater magnitude in the intervention group than in the control group (−8.4 vs −2.6 points; p<0.001).

Based on the sleep diary data, the intervention was also associated with significant improvements in sleep quality (mean difference, 0.56, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.39–0.74), wake after sleep onset (mean difference, 9.54 minutes, 95 percent CI, 1.93–17.10), sleep onset latency (mean difference, 8.32 minutes, 95 percent CI, 1.91–14.70), and sleep efficiency (mean difference, −0.04 percent, 95 percent CI, −0.07 to −0.01) but not in total sleep time (mean difference, 0.01 hours, 95 percent CI, −0.27 to 0.29).