Real-World Data Shows Black People Face Higher Rates of Insomnia and Receive Poor Care

A growing body of research indicates that Black people in the US have significantly higher levels of sleep disorders like insomnia and sleep apnea than their white counterparts. Despite this, Black patients typically receive substandard care for sleep problems. A real-world data (RWD) study earlier this year found that only 6.2% of Black patients diagnosed with insomnia received medication for it, less than half the rate of white patients.

According to Peter Wehrwein, “The differences narrowed when other medications commonly used to treat insomnia but not explicitly FDA approved for that purpose were factored in. Those medications include doxepin, trazodone and melatonin. The results show that 28.9% of Black patients and 36.2%o of White patients received prescriptions when a more expansive definition of insomnia prescription was used.”

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(Source: Managed Healthcare Executive, April 15^th, 2023)