POEMs
Patient-Oriented Evidence That Matters

Mirtazapine and Amitriptyline Are Modestly Effective for Short-Term Improvement of Insomnia in Adults

Henry C. Barry, MD, MS

American Family Physician. 2026;113(4):398-399.

Author disclosure: No relevant financial relationships.

Henry C. Barry, MD, MS

Author disclosure: No relevant financial relationships.

  1. 1.Bakker MH, Hugtenburg JG, Bet PM, et al. Effectiveness of low-dose amitriptyline and mirtazapine in patients with insomnia disorder and sleep maintenance problems: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in general practice (DREAMING). Br J Gen Pract. 2025;75(756):e474-e483.

POEMs (patient-oriented evidence that matters) are provided by Essential Evidence Plus, a point-of-care clinical decision support system published by Wiley-Blackwell. For more information, see http://www.essentialevidenceplus.com. Copyright Wiley-Blackwell. Used with permission.

For definitions of levels of evidence used in POEMs, see https://www.essentialevidenceplus.com/Home/Loe?show=Sort.

Primary Care Update, a free podcast focused on POEMs, is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

This series is coordinated by Natasha J. Pyzocha, DO, contributing editor.

A collection of POEMs published in AFP is available at https://www.aafp.org/afp/poems.

Copyright © 2026 by the American Academy of Family Physicians.

This content is owned by the AAFP. A person viewing it online may make one printout of the material and may use that printout only for his or her personal, non-commercial reference. This material may not otherwise be downloaded, copied, printed, stored, transmitted or reproduced in any medium, whether now known or later invented, except as authorized in writing by the AAFP. See permissions for copyright questions and/or permission requests.