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Article: Drug Update: Primary Insomnia.
- Article from:
- OB GYN News
- Article date:
- August 1, 2000
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2000 International Medical News Group. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Insomnia strikes 30%-40% of American adults annually and 10% have insomnia that is chronic or severe.
Behavioral therapy is the first step recommended by some experts. But for patients whose primary insomnia has lasted for more than 4 weeks, drug therapy is the most common treatment. Drug therapy works faster; behavioral therapy produces more durable results. Combining the two may work even better but not dramatically so.
The benzodiazepine receptor agonists (BRAs) are considered the top drug class. The other drugs listed here are alternatives that can be used for selected patients or after several BRAs have proved ineffective or are not tolerated.
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