• BMJ open · Jul 2019

    Factors associated with long-term prescription of benzodiazepine: a retrospective cohort study using a health insurance database in Japan.

    • Ayumi Takano, Sachiko Ono, Hayato Yamana, Hiroki Matsui, Toshihiko Matsumoto, Hideo Yasunaga, and Norito Kawakami.
    • Department of Mental Health and Psychiatric Nursing, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan.
    • BMJ Open. 2019 Jul 26; 9 (7): e029641.

    ObjectivesCurrent clinical guidelines discourage long-term prescription of benzodiazepines and Z-drugs (BZD); however, the practice continues to exist. The aim of this study was to investigate the proportion of long-term BZD prescriptions and its risk factors.DesignRetrospective cohort study using a health insurance database.SettingJapan.ParticipantsA total of 86 909 patients were identified as outpatients aged 18 to 65 years who started BZD between 1 October 2012 and 1 April 2015. After excluding patients who underwent surgery on the day of first BZD prescription (n=762) and patients without 8 months follow-up (n=12 103), 74 044 outpatients were analysed.Main Outcome MeasuresWe investigated the proportion of long-term prescriptions for ≥8 months among new BZD users. We assessed patient demographics, diagnoses, characteristics of the initial BZD prescription and prescribers as potential predictors of the long-term BZD prescription. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to assess the association between long-term prescription and potential predictors.ResultsOf the new BZD users, 6687 (9.0%) were consecutively prescribed BZD for ≥8 months. The long-term prescription was significantly associated with mood and neurotic disorder, cancer, prescription by psychiatrists, multiple prescriptions, hypnotics and medium half-life BZD in the initial prescription.ConclusionDespite the recent clinical guidelines, 9% of new BZD users were given prescriptions for more than 8 months. Physicians should be aware of risk factors when prescribing BZDs for the first time.© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2019. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

      Pubmed     Free full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…

Want more great medical articles?

Keep up to date with a free trial of metajournal, personalized for your practice.
1,704,841 articles already indexed!

We guarantee your privacy. Your email address will not be shared.