Sleep Without Insomnia or The Use of Chronic Hypnotics
Public ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT03687086. Field values are reproduced from the official study page; the official ClinicalTrials.gov record remains the source of truth for eligibility, enrollment, and contact information.
Data is sourced from official ClinicalTrials.gov public API records. Always review the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for the latest information.
Official title
A Novel Mechanism for Helping Older Adults Discontinue Use of Sleeping Pills
Brief summary
Reproduced verbatim from the official ClinicalTrials.gov record. Not medical advice.
Sleeping medications, called hypnotics, are often prescribed for insomnia and are associated with adverse health outcomes in older adults. Response rates to hypnotic discontinuation programs are often inadequate, and many patients eventually resume use of hypnotics, suggesting that other mechanisms need to be targeted to achieve and sustain high rates of non-use. Current programs focus on the tapering of hypnotics and/or the treatment of insomnia symptoms. These programs employ strategies such as supervised gradual taper, cognitive behavioral therapy targeting hypnotic withdrawal, and/or cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia. Evidence suggests that another mechanism involving "placebo" effects may be a viable target for achieving and sustaining higher discontinuation rates. Cognitive expectancies play a key role in producing placebo effects, which are characterized as real improvements in sleep arising from psychosocial aspects of treatment rather than drug effects alone. In this study, investigators are comparing two programs for discontinuing hypnotic medications-a program that addresses placebo effects associated with hypnotic use and a program that does not address these effects.
Study identification
- NCT ID
- NCT03687086
- Recruitment status
- Completed
- Study type
- Interventional
- Phase
- Not applicable
- Enrollment
- 188 participants
Conditions and interventions
Conditions
Eligibility (public fields only)
- Age range
- 55 Years and older
- Sex
- All
- Healthy volunteers
- Healthy volunteers not accepted
This page does not interpret eligibility. Detailed inclusion and exclusion criteria are on the official ClinicalTrials.gov record.
Study timeline
- Start date
- Dec 10, 2018
- Primary completion
- Nov 26, 2023
- Completion
- Nov 26, 2023
- Last update posted
- Apr 6, 2026
2018 – 2023
United States locations
- U.S. sites
- 2
- U.S. states
- 1
- U.S. cities
- 1
| Facility | City | State | ZIP | Site status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| VA Greater Los Angeles | Los Angeles | California | 90073 | — |
| University of California, Los Angeles | Los Angeles | California | 90095 | — |
Site contact phone numbers, emails, and investigator names are intentionally not displayed here. Open the official ClinicalTrials.gov record for site contact information.
About this trial record page
- What this page shows
- Public field values for ClinicalTrials.gov record NCT03687086, including study identification, conditions, interventions, eligibility (age, sex, healthy volunteer), timeline, and U.S. site list.
- What this page does not do
- No medical advice, eligibility judgments, treatment recommendations, study quality scoring, or AI-generated medical summaries. No site contact phone numbers, emails, or investigator names.
- Where the data comes from
- Sourced from the official ClinicalTrials.gov public API. The official record is the source of truth.
- Last refresh
- Last update posted Apr 6, 2026 · Synced Sep 7, 2026
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Open the official record
The complete protocol, eligibility criteria, and contact information for NCT03687086 live on ClinicalTrials.gov.