• Lauren B Gerlach, Julie Strominger, Hyungjin Myra Kim, and Donovan T Maust.
• Department of Psychiatry, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI, USA. glauren@med.umich.edu.
• J Gen Intern Med. 2019 Sep 1; 34 (9): 1833-1840.

BackgroundGuidelines recommend most benzodiazepine (BZD) treatment be short-term, though chronic BZD use is increasing.ObjectiveDetermine the rate of BZD discontinuation among chronic users and identify patient- and provider-level factors associated with discontinuation.Design, Setting, And ParticipantsA retrospective cohort study using nationwide insurance claims data from 2014 to 2016 of US adults ≥ 18 years old with chronic BZD use (i.e., > 120 days) during the baseline year.Main Outcomes And MeasuresThe primary outcome was BZD discontinuation among chronic users after 1 year of follow-up. A series of multilevel logistic regression models examined the association of BZD discontinuation with patient and provider characteristics. Covariates included patient sociodemographics, medical and psychiatric comorbidity, co-prescribed opioids and other psychotropics, and characteristics of the prescribed BZD.Key ResultsOf 141,008 chronic BZD users, 13.4% discontinued use after 1 year. Females had lower odds of discontinuation (AOR 0.83, 99% CI 0.79-0.87), while African-American patients had higher odds (AOR 1.12, 99% CI 1.03-1.22). Those prescribed a high-potency BZD had lower odds of discontinuation (AOR 0.51, 99% CI 0.47-0.54), as did those prescribed an opioid (AOR 0.94, 99% CI 0.89-0.99). After adjusting for patient- and provider-level factors, differences between providers accounted for 5.8% of variation in BZD discontinuation (p < 0.001). The median odds ratio for provider was 1.54, an association with discontinuation larger than almost all patient-level clinical variables.ConclusionsA small minority of patients prescribed chronic BZD in a given year are no longer prescribed BZDs 1 year later. There is significant variation in the likelihood of discontinuation accounted for by non-clinical factors such as race, geography, and a patient's provider, which had a stronger association with the odds of discontinuation than almost every other patient-level variable. Provider-facing elements of interventions to reduce BZD prescribing may be critical.

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