Behavioral interventions to improve sleep outcomes in people with multiple sclerosis: A systematic review

Objective(s): Sleep disturbances are a common issue for individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS). Evidence suggests behavioral interventions may be effective in improving sleep outcomes. The objective of this systematic review is to determine effective behavioral interventions to improve sleep in people with MS.

Data Sources: Literature searches were performed in October 2021 in Ovid MEDLINE, CINAHL, and Web of Science along with hand searching for grey literature and cited references. Out of the 837 search results, 830 unique references were reviewed after duplicates were removed.

Study Selection: Four reviewers independently screened titles/abstracts and full-texts (two reviewers screened each title/abstract and full-texts) to determine which meet eligibility criteria and a third reviewer resolved discrepancies. Eighty-one articles underwent full-text review, and 38 articles were determined eligible for inclusion in the systematic review.

Data Extraction: Reviewers are currently conducting data extraction and quality appraisals. Relevant data is being extracted from each study by four reviewers (two reviewers for each article) using a standardized data-extraction table and consensus will be achieved for completeness and accuracy. Four reviewers (two for each article) will also conduct a quality appraisal of each article to assess the risk for bias and quality of the articles and consensus will be achieved.

Data Synthesis: Descriptive and statistical measures will be used as appropriate to describe types of interventions studied, sleep outcome measures used and corresponding results, and summarize key components across interventions.

Conclusions: This systematic review will summarize the current state of the literature on behavioral interventions for sleep in individuals with MS. It is anticipated the conclusions will aid in guiding clinical practice and identify opportunities for future research.

Author(s) Disclosures: Catherine F. Siengsukon: Owner and CEO of Sleep Health Education, LLC
David Turkowitch: N/A
Prasanna Vaduvathiriyan: N/A
Silvana Costa: N/A
Sarah Donkers: N/A
Joy Williams: N/A