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Study,Sep/19: Benzo Prescript'n Prevalence Analysis Shows Off-Label Use: 1 in 11


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The full title of this Spanish study is "Call for Action: Benzodiazepine Prescription Prevalence Analysis Shows Off-Label Prescription in One in Eleven Citizens".

 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31494655

 

NB. I've read quite a few of these abstracts, and this is the first time I've seen the use of the term "off-label" to refer to long-term prescription of benzodiazepines. Interesting to see the phrase used here.

 

Abstract

 

OBJECTIVE:

 

Benzodiazepines have a good safety profile. Nevertheless, off-label use of these drugs may increase the risk of falls, dependence, and memory loss. Off-label prescription use is not highly prevalent. Studies have not researched the factors that influence off-label prescription use. We aim to identify the prevalence of off-label use of benzodiazepines in Barcelona and explore sociodemographic factors that may be involved for professionals and patients.

 

METHOD:

 

A cross-sectional study in Barcelona was carried out. Data from professionals were obtained from the Medical Official College of Barcelona. Patients' healthcare data were extracted from the electronic prescription system DataMart and from the Catalan Health System Observatory (catchment of 97% of the prescription system). Two multivariate analyses were performed to identify risk factors of off-label prescription use; one focused on the patients' characteristics and the other focused on professionals' characteristics.

 

RESULTS:

 

In total, 9.7% of Barcelona's citizens used benzodiazepine prescriptions; 96.1% of them were off-label uses. The most common reason was long-term use (95.8%). Elderly patients were the most common demographic that was exposed to off-label use (OR 1.05, 95% CI 1.04-1.05). Family doctors (B = 38.87, 95% CI 25.25-35.50) and psychiatrists (B = 16.93; 95% CI 11.50-22.35) were the largest groups of off-label prescribers.

 

CONCLUSIONS:

 

The prevalence of benzodiazepine off-label prescriptions in our environment is very high, especially when the length of the treatment is considered. Implementation of evidenced-based strategies to facilitate more effective prescription practices is required.

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96.1% of them were off-label uses. The most common reason was long-term use (95.8%).

 

Holy moley! There, too, eh? Why are we not surprised. Very depressing.

 

Thank you, Lapis.

 

:thumbsup:

 

Katz

 

 

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I wish the authors had included another conclusion ... something along the lines of “Design, development, testing, and use of evidence-based strategies to help long-term, “taken as prescribed” benzodiazepine users safely withdraw from this class of drugs with no or minimal harm is urgently required.”

 

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

I emailed the study lead today. Here is his response:

 

“Thank you for your interest in our work and take the time to translate to Catalan. Sorry for suffering the consequences of benzodiazepines. Regarding the benzodiazepines our groups is focused on the understanding the behavior of physicians in order to prevent benzodiazepine long-term use.  We try to create spaces for the discussion and help them to improve their abilities to deal the health or life conditions with strategies different to benzodiazepines.

 

Unfortunately we don’t carry out at the moment any research for the recovery of the people affected by benzodiazepine use disorder.

 

Up to my knowledge there are two researchers who have published worthy papers regarding the treatment:

 

Dr Michael Soyka (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michael_Soyka)

 

Dr Heahter Ashton (I think is retired but may be some colleague of her team continues the research (https://benzo.org.uk/ashcv.htm)

 

I hope it is useful and you feel better soon.”

 

 

Best regards,

 

Hugo López

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