Patterns of insomnia and its treatment in North Central London: using primary care data to establish unmet needs and health inequalities

Findings suggested that insomnia is at least as common as illnesses receiving high levels of focus and resourcing in the UK, and that prevalence estimates were probably underestimates. Variation in prevalence by demographic factors and deprivation may represent health inequalities. Insomnia was particularly common among patients with certain comorbidities and of advancing age, indicating that those groups should be actively screened. Concerningly, referral rates for CBT-I were extremely low. This has important implications regarding population health management, commissioning and training. Prevalence and unmet need are likely to be high in many other areas and should be investigated locally.