This trial will test the efficacy and safety of ramelteon, a selective melatonin agonist, on patients with insomnia comorbid with asthma.

Subjects with insomnia comorbid with asthma will be randomized to placebo or ramelteon at night for 6 weeks.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Ages 18 - 60 with both insomnia and asthma.

• Insomnia:

  • a complaint of difficulty initiating sleep, difficulty maintaining sleep, or waking up too early or sleep that is chronically nonrestorative or poor in quality,
  • the sleep difficulty occurs despite adequate opportunity and circumstances for sleep, and
  • at least one form of daytime impairment related to the nighttime sleep difficulty must be present. The sleep complaint should be present on most days for at least 3 months.

• Additional inclusion criteria include: a subjective TST <6.5 h and a subjective SL > 45 min per night; a mean LPS >20 min over 2 consecutive nights by polysomnography (neither night could have been <15 min); a habitual bedtime between 10 PM and 1 AM; and ISI score > 10 (based on 0-4 scale). LPS is defined as amount of time to the first 10 minutes of continuous sleep.

• Asthma will be diagnosed based on suggestive clinical history and either

  • airway hyperresponsiveness indicated by a 20% or greater decrease in FEV1 in response to inhalation of methacholine at 8 mg/mL or less
  • bronchodilator-responsive expiratory airflow limitation (if FEV1 < 70% of predicted value or < 1.5 L, improving ≥200 mL and 12% in response to 180 µg of albuterol aerosol). In addition to the above criteria, patients should have well-controlled asthma as evidenced by ACQ score < 1.5.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Primary sleep pathology, other than insomnia as assessed by sleep history and confirmed by polysomnography to exclude significant sleep apnea (RDI > 15), periodic leg movements (movement arousal index > 15), REM behavior disorder; or circadian sleep-wake disorders
• History of cognitive or other neurological disorders;
• History of DSM-IV criteria for any major psychiatric disorder, including mania or alcohol or substance abuse;
• Depressive symptoms as assessed by the CES-D. Subjects with a score of 22 or greater indicates that the person may be suffering from a major depression and therefore, will be referred to their physician;
• Unstable or serious medical conditions;
• Current, or use within the past month, of psychoactive, hypnotic, stimulant or analgesic medications (except occasionally);
• Shift work or other types of self imposed irregular sleep schedules;
• Obesity (BMI > 35 Kg/m2); or
• Pregnancy or desire to become pregnant during the study.

Recruitment difficulties led to only 3 participants in the study. Only 2 participants finished the study.