A Phase 4 interventional study of Digital Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Structured Medication Tapering in Insomnia and Hypnotic Dependence, sponsored by National Jewish Health. Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 21 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-01-23.
Sponsored by National Jewish Health · Phase 4, Interventional, and Health services research
Many individuals with insomnia seek treatment in primary care settings, where they often receive prescription hypnotic medications as their first and sometimes only treatment. However, extended use of these medications can lead to reliance and increased health risks, such as falls and cognitive impairments. While evidence-based approaches like physician-supervised medication tapering exist, they're not widely available in primary care.
Most primary care providers are willing to explore non-drug treatments like cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBTI), but accessing such treatments can be challenging outside of specialized sleep centers. This gap between research and practice underscores the need for cost-effective interventions to manage insomnia and help patients reduce their reliance on hypnotics in primary care.
In response to this need, the project aims to conduct a large randomized trial comparing a combined digital CBT (dCBTI) and medication tapering intervention with medication tapering alone. We'll recruit 430 patients reliant on hypnotics from 8-10 primary care clinics affiliated with the University of Colorado Medical School. The main goal is to assess the effectiveness of dCBTI+SMT compared to SMT alone in reducing hypnotic use and improving insomnia symptoms.
Additionally, we'll evaluate factors affecting the adoption and implementation of these interventions at the patient, provider, and system levels. This information will inform future implementation strategies to disseminate effective treatments in primary care.
Furthermore, we'll gather data to identify which patients benefit most from dCBTI+SMT. Overall, this study will provide valuable insights into the feasibility, clinical utility, and acceptability of these interventions in managing insomnia and reducing reliance on hypnotic medications in primary care. Ultimately, this project represents a crucial first step toward making accessible and cost-effective strategies available to improve the quality of life for millions of chronic users of sleep aids.
Treatment-seeking insomnia sufferers most often present in primary care where their first and usually only treatment is a prescription hypnotic medication. More than 65% of individuals prescribed hypnotics use them for more than a year, and more than 30% remain on them for more than five years. Such agents may be useful for acute insomnia and certain cases with chronic sleep difficulties, but prolonged hypnotic use can lead to dependency and increased morbidity (e.g., falls, cognitive/driving impairments). Reducing or discontinuing hypnotics after prolonged use is a challenging task for both prescribing physicians and the patients who use them. Although evidenced-based physician-supervised medication tapering (SMT) protocols have shown efficacy, such interventions have yet to be disseminated widely in primary care. Most primary care providers (PCPs) are willing to refer their insomnia patients to alternative evidence-based non-drug treatments such as cognitive behavioral insomnia therapy (CBTI), but such treatment is often difficult to access outside of specialty sleep centers. Given this gap between research and clinical practice, there is a pressing need to develop and validate cost-effective interventions to facilitate the management of insomnia and hypnotic tapering in primary care. This study has been carefully designed to address these issues. Investigators will conduct a large randomized trial (RCT) to compare the combined digital CBT (dCBTI)/SMT intervention, to the SMT intervention delivered alone for producing hypnotic discontinuation and insomnia symptom improvement. A sample of 430 hypnotic-reliant patients drawn from 8-10 primary care clinics within a practice-based research network affiliated with the University of Colorado Medical School in Aurora, Colorado will serve as study participants. The main objective of the project is to compare the performance of dCBTI+SMT with SMT used alone for achieving hypnotic reduction/discontinuation and insomnia symptom improvement. In addition, investigators will incorporate an Effectiveness-Implementation assessment into the RCT to identify patient- provider- and system-level factors that may impact adoption, implementation and maintenance of the types of interventions tested. Findings from the effectiveness/implementation should help design future trials of implementation strategies identified herein to promote dissemination of dCBTI and SMT interventions into primary care should these treatments prove effective in the current trial. Investigators also will gather exploratory data to determine who responds best to dCBTI/SMT. This study will provide new and useful information about the feasibility, clinical utility, and patient-, provider-, and system-level acceptability of these interventions to manage insomnia and reduce/eliminate hypnotic use in primary care. This project should serve as a necessary first step toward the eventual dissemination of accessible, cost-effective strategies to manage a significant public health problem and improve the quality of life of millions of chronic users of controlled-substance sleep aids.
2,722 studies on the registry are indexed under Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders; 726 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 430 is above the median of 68 across 2,350 interventional studies indexed under Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders.
Browse Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders studies →National Jewish Health is the lead sponsor of 109 studies on the registry; 14 are open to participants now.
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Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Short tests of memory and thinking, each scored out of 30. Lower scores suggest more difficulty; criteria give a range, either to include people with memory problems or to leave them out.
Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.
Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
MMSE and MoCA
Short tests of memory and thinking, each scored out of 30. Lower scores suggest more difficulty; criteria give a range, either to include people with memory problems or to leave them out.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Corticosteroids (steroids)
Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.
Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
dCBTI delivered in tandem with SMT during intervention phase.
Behavioral: Digital Cognitive Behavioral Therapy · Behavioral: Structured Medication Tapering
Structured medication tapering delivered alone with general sleep hygiene information.
Behavioral: Structured Medication Tapering
Adaptive cloud-based software delivering cognitive behavioral therapy tailored to the needs of the individual patient.
Also known as: dCBTI, Sleepio
A structured tapering of hypnotic (or other) medication to promote successful discontinuation by patients seeking to discontinue use.
Also known as: SMT
Hypnotic discontinuation rates
Rates of successful hypnotic discontinuation among participants
Time frame: Post-treatment at weeks 22 and 49 of participation
Insomnia remission rates
Rates of insomnia remission among participants
Time frame: Post-treatment at weeks 22 and 49 of participation
Plan to share: No — Not planned.
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