RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Insomnia is a common sleep disorder that affects a large portion of the population in a situational, recurrent, or chronic way. In Canada, it is estimated that 13% of the population suffers from it. OBJECTIVE: The primary objective of this literature review is to identify and describe studies dealing with the role and impact of the management of insomnia by a pharmacist. METHOD: PubMed®, EMBASE® and CINALH Complete were searched to extract articles published between January 1st, 1990 and May 28, 2020. Studies on the role and impact of management of insomnia by a pharmacist, in French and English, descriptive or quantitative, with or without control group were included. Articles that did not deal with insomnia as the primary topic or where insomnia is a secondary condition were excluded, conference abstracts and studies showing no concrete results. The following variables were extracted: author, type of study, duration, location, sample size and characteristics of participants, description of pharmacist interventions, limits and biases, outcomes assessed and results. The quality of the pharmacists' interventions description was evaluated with DEPICT2. RESULTS: Our review identified eight articles published from 2006 to 2018 evaluating 14 types of outcomes and 41 separate outcomes. A total of 37% (7/19) of the quantitative outcomes had statistically significant positive results, regarding insomnia qualification, symptoms and adequate use. Six studies were conducted in community pharmacy. The quality score varied between 8 and 10 out of 11. CONCLUSION: There is little data on the role and impact of the management of insomnia by a pharmacist. The pharmacist can have a positive impact, particularly when practicing in a community pharmacy. Given the limited data and the prevalence of insomnia, it appears relevant to invest in pharmaceutical evaluative research for this condition.
