Sleep Treatment Outcome Predictors: A Pilot Study (STOP-pilot)

Insomnia occurs frequently causing a substantial burden to society (1). Historically, insomnia has been considered as secondary to a handful of other psychiatric disorders, such as depression and anxiety - but it is now clear that this disorder is associated with a wide range of psychiatric conditions and may actually precede and predict their development and severity (e.g. 2). Treating insomnia has been posited to hold the promise of reducing or preventing the development of co-morbid problems - although this possibility needs to be rigorously tested. Cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is an effective treatment for disturbed sleep, specifically insomnia, in adults (3) and is recommended by NICE for the management of long-term sleep problems. This treatment is more accessible than ever before given recent ground-breaking internet initiatives - such as the Sleepio programme (see: https://www.sleepio.com/home/), which was developed by one of the collaborators (Colin Espie) and has yielded encouraging results (4). Despite the importance of CBT for treating disturbed sleep and the finding that it leads to a good outcome for the majority of sufferers, some people fail to respond to this treatment. For example, research cited on the Sleepio website notes that around 70% of those with even very long term sleep difficulties experience long-term improvements from the treatment, meaning that 30% do not (see 4). Understanding more about who does and does not respond holds the promise of improving or tailoring treatments for insomnia. The study proposed here builds on recent work by one of the researchers who has been exploring demographic (5), clinical (e.g. 6) and most uniquely genetic (e.g. 7); and epigenetic (e.g. 8) predictors of psychological treatment response (coining the term Therapygenetics, see, 7). While these predictors are individually only likely to explain a small proportion of the variance of treatment outcome, understanding these multiple risks and their i