Sleep-treatment rankings in multiple sclerosis leave benefit sizes uncertain
A review ranked occupational therapy approaches highest for reported sleep quality and effleurage massage highest for insomnia severity, without giving effect sizes.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
The review suggests that different approaches may rank highest depending on the sleep outcome being measured. Occupational therapy approaches led the ranking for subjective sleep quality, while effleurage massage led for insomnia severity. These rankings do not reveal how much patients improved, whether differences were statistically convincing, or which option would suit an individual.
This abstract-based account cannot assess the size or precision of treatment differences: neither effect estimates nor uncertainty intervals are supplied. Treatment lengths and assessment times are also missing.
What researchers found
Subjective sleep quality: SUCRA ranking score
Occupational therapy approaches ranked highest among the network's interventions; assessment timing was not reported. This score is not a percentage improvement in sleep.
Different sleep outcomes
Subjective sleep quality and insomnia severity were analyzed separately. The leading intervention changed between these outcomes, so the abstract does not support treating its rankings as a single answer to all sleep problems.
What a ranking means
The analysis used SUCRA, a statistical summary for ordering treatments within a network. Ranking scores are not the proportion of patients helped and do not, by themselves, show the size of a treatment benefit.
The original publication
Comparative efficacy of non- pharmacological interventions on sleep quality in patients with multiple sclerosis: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.
Liu Y, Zhao X, Luo C et al.
PeerJ · 2026
- PubMed ID
- 41868799
- Record checked
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