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Biofeedback Therapies for Chronic Insomnia: A Systematic Review

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Abstract

The treatment of insomnia is still a challenge in clinical practice. This systematic review of randomized and quasi-randomized clinical trials aims to summarize the evidence for the use of biofeedback techniques in the treatment of chronic insomnia. Studies that compared biofeedback with other techniques of cognitive behavioral therapy, placebo, or absence of treatment were selected. The outcomes evaluated included sleep onset latency, total sleep time, sleep fragmentation, sleep efficiency and subjective sleep quality. Comparing to placebo and absence of treatment, some studies suggest possible benefits from the use of biofeedback for chronic insomnia in decreasing sleep onset latency and number of awakenings; however, there was marked divergence among included studies. There was no evidence of improvement in total sleep time, sleep efficiency and subjective sleep quality. Moreover, the maintenance of long-term benefits lacks evidence for any outcome. In the majority of outcomes evaluated, no significant differences in the effectiveness of biofeedback compared with other cognitive behavioral therapy techniques were observed. This systematic review found conflicting evidence for the effectiveness of biofeedback techniques in the treatment of chronic insomnia. Inter- and intra-group clinical heterogeneity among studies could be a reasonable explanation for the divergent results. These findings emphasize the need of performing further randomized clinical trials of higher methodological quality in order to better delineate the effectiveness of biofeedback on chronic insomnia treatment.

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Abbreviations

CI:

Confidence interval

DeCS:

Descriptors in health science

DSM-IV-TR:

Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 4th edition—text revision

EEG:

Electroencephalographic

ICD-10:

International classification of diseases, 10th revision

ICSD-3:

International classification of sleep disorders, 3th edition

MD:

Mean difference

MeSH:

Medical subject heading

PSG:

Polysomnography

SOL:

Sleep onset latency

TST:

Total sleep time

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, Neuro-Sono Sleep Center, Federal University of Sao Paulo–UNIFESP, R. Cláudio Rossi, 394, São Paulo, SP, CEP 01547-000, Brazil

    Denise Lima Medeiros Melo, Luciane Bizari Coin Carvalho, Lucila Bizari Fernandes Prado & Gilmar Fernandes Prado

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  1. Denise Lima Medeiros Melo
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  2. Luciane Bizari Coin Carvalho
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Correspondence to Denise Lima Medeiros Melo.

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Melo, D.L.M., Carvalho, L.B.C., Prado, L.B.F. et al. Biofeedback Therapies for Chronic Insomnia: A Systematic Review. Appl Psychophysiol Biofeedback 44, 259–269 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10484-019-09442-2

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