A study drug called eszopiclone significantly reduces both time to fall asleep and number of nightly waking episodes in elderly patients with insomnia, according to a presentation at the annual meeting of the American Psychiatric Association. Total sleep time also improved.

The current study involved 264 insomnia patients between 65 and 85 years who were randomized to eszopiclone or placebo. Each patient completed sleep diaries every night for two weeks. When the code was broken to determine which patients were on placebo and who got the drug, patients treated with eszopiclone showed improvement in all measures of insomnia including falling asleep, staying asleep and total sleep time, as well as a reduction in frequency and duration of daytime napping, said W. Vaughn McCall, M.D., presenter of the study.

Though 40 million Americans suffer from insomnia, McCall said the study focused on patients 65 years and older because insomnia tends to be more common in older people.

“The elderly are more easily awakened by noise, pain or light and tend to have difficulty sleeping for extended periods and achieving deep, restful sleep states,” McCall said. “As a result, elderly adults often get less sleep than they need, leading to increased napping or diminished next-day functioning, which can impact their quality of life.”

McCall said the study also evaluated patients on whether their quality of life improved using standard quality of life tests. The results showed significant improvement on eszopiclone. “Since improving patients’ quality of life is the goal of treatment, this is an interesting finding that merits further study,” he said.