Psychotropic Medication Consumption Patterns in the UK General Population

Objective : To investigate the prevalence of long‐term benzodiazepine use in an elderly community sample, and factors associated with such use. Method : Data came from the Sydney Older Persons Study, a longitudinal study of people aged 75 or over. There were 337 subjects who were interviewed in 1991–93, and subsequently followed up after three and 4.5 years. At the first interview, subjects were assessed for socio‐demographic characteristics, physical and mental health, and use of health services. At the first and subsequent interviews, subjects were asked about use of medications, including benzodiazepines. Results : There were 16.6% who were using benzodiazepines at the time of all three interviews, while a further 19.6% were using them at one or two interviews. In a multivariate ordered logit regression model, long‐term benzodiazepine use was associated with treatment for nervous conditions, restless sleep, being female, being divorced and greater contact with medical services. Conclusions : The prevalence of benzodiazepine use in the elderly is high and much of this use is long term. The high prevalence of benzodiazepine use stands in contrast to the findings from national surveys that the elderly living in the community tend to have better mental health than younger age groups. Implications : Efforts are needed to reduce the number of elderly people becoming long‐term users. The use of benzodiazepines in this age group is of particular concern, because they may be a risk factor for falls and for cognitive impairment in the elderly.

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“…11,13 However, other studies have typically used a wider age range, whereas the present study included only the very elderly.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term benzodiazepine use by elderly people living in the community

Jorm

Grayson

Creasey

et al. 2000

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health

109

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“…Die Häufigkeit des Schlafmittelkonsums lag in der deutschen Erwachsenenbevölkerung bei insgesamt 5,7% und damit -trotz einer deutlich höheren Prä-valenz von Ein-und Durchschlafstörun-gen -vergleichbar hoch wie beispielsweise in der spanischen Bevölkerung mit 5,5% [27]. Ein deutlich höherer Schlafmittelkonsum wird mit 11,7% für Frankreich [28], niedrigere Anwendungsprä-valenzen werden mit 3,5% hingegen für Großbritannien berichtet [29], wobei in beiden Ländern, anders als in DEGS1, signifikant höhere Anwendungsraten für Frauen berichtet wurden. Ähnlich wie in dieser Studie gaben jedoch ältere Personen (≥60 Jahre) sowohl in Frankreich als auch in Großbritannien signifikant häu-figer an, vom Arzt verschriebene oder frei verkäufliche Schlafmittel anzuwenden.…”

Section: Schlafqualität Und Schlafmittelkonsumunclassified

Häufigkeit und Verteilung von Schlafproblemen und Insomnie in der deutschen Erwachsenenbevölkerung

Schlack

Hapke

Maske

et al. 2013

Bundesgesundheitsbl.

179

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“…The current use of hypnotics in the general population is estimated to range between 3.5% and 11.7%, doubling in elderly populations [8][9][10][11]. Hypnotics may produce residual daytime sleepiness and impairment of psychomotor, attention and memory performances the day after bedtime administration, especially with the high dose and long half-life durations [12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Hypnotics and mortality in an elderly general population: A 12-year prospective study

et al. 2013

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Background: Hypnotics are widely used by the elderly, and their impact on mortality remains controversial. The inconsistent findings could be due to methodological limitations, notably the lack of control for underlying sleep symptoms or illness associated with hypnotic use, for example, insomnia symptoms and excessive daytime sleepiness, depression and anxiety. Our objective was to examine the association between the use of hypnotics and mortality risk in a large cohort of community-dwelling elderly, taking into account a wide range of potential competing risks including sociodemographic characteristics, lifestyle, and chronic disorders as well as underlying psychiatric disorders and sleep complaints. Methods: Analyses were carried out on 6,696 participants aged 65 years or older randomly recruited from three French cities and free of dementia at baseline. Adjusted Cox proportional hazards models with delayed entry, and age of the participants as the time scale, were used to determine the association between hypnotic use and 12-year survival. Results: At baseline, 21.7% of the participants regularly used at least one hypnotic. During follow-up, 1,307 persons died, 480 from cancer and 344 from cardiovascular disease. Analyses adjusted for study center, age and gender showed a significantly greater risk of all-cause and cardiovascular-related mortality with hypnotics, particularly benzodiazepines, and this increased with the number of hypnotics used. None of these associations were significant in models adjusting for sociodemographic and lifestyle characteristics, chronic disorders including cardiovascular pathologies, sleep and psychiatric disorders. Results remained unchanged when duration of past hypnotic intake or persistent versus intermittent use during follow-up were taken into account. Conclusions: When controlling for a large range of potential confounders, the risk of mortality was not significantly associated with hypnotic use regardless of the type and duration. Underlying psychiatric disorders appear to be the principal confounders of the observed association.

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Psychotropic Medication Consumption Patterns in the UK General Population

Cited by 151 publications

References 20 publications

Long-term benzodiazepine use by elderly people living in the community

Long-term benzodiazepine use by elderly people living in the community

Häufigkeit und Verteilung von Schlafproblemen und Insomnie in der deutschen Erwachsenenbevölkerung

Hypnotics and mortality in an elderly general population: A 12-year prospective study

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