Background: chronic insomnia is a highly prevalent and persistent health concern among older adults, and it has significant adverse effects on cognitive function and physical health.

Objectives: the study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a brief 4-week behavioural therapy for insomnia (BBTi) on insomnia remission in older adults with chronic insomnia.

Design: a systematic review and meta-analysis were conducted.

Subjects: adults aged 60 years or older.

Methods: eight electronic databases were systematically searched through the end of March 2022. Studies followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis Statement.

Results: four randomised controlled trials (190 subjects) were included. The mean age of the participants was 69.06 (65.10-71.65), and 29.9% (27.3-32.3%) were male. Older adults who received the BBTi showed a significant insomnia remission (standardised mean differences, -1.07; 95% confidence interval, -1.43 to -0.71; I2, 0%). Sleep parameters measured by actigraphy revealed that in older adults, the BBTi program significantly improved total sleep time, wake after sleep onset (WASO), sleep onset latency (SOL) and sleep efficacy (SE) compared to the controls. For the subjective sleep parameters measured the by sleep diary, older adults who received BBTi obtained a more effective improvement in WASO, SE and SOL. The overall risk of bias was mostly low or of some concern due to the difficulty of blinding participants and assessors.

Conclusions: a 4-week BBTi program can be considered an effective and nonselective intervention for insomnia remission among older adults with chronic insomnia and thereby has the potential to ameliorate WASO, SE and SOL.