A new research published by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has revealed that doctors are increasingly prescribing benzodiazepines in recent years.
The study, which examined data from 2014 to 2016, found that doctors have prescribed benzodiazepines, a kind of central nervous system depressant, at about 65.9 million office-based doctor visits. This translates to a rate of 27 annual visits per 100 adults.
The researchers used data from the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey and the CDC published the results of the study on Friday.
Benzodiazepines include alprazolam, diazepam and lorazepam, which are often prescribed by doctors on a short-term basis to relieve acute anxiety, agitation or to help someone sleep. However, if patients take them in the long term, they can become addictive.
The drugs have been shown to increase the risk of falls, cloud judgment and impair memory among older adults, as well as an increased risk of hospitalization and death for people who take benzos, particularly if taken with an opioid.
Despite these risks, the researchers found that among the doctor visits at which benzodiazepines were prescribed, opioid was also prescribed at approximately one-third of the time at a rate of 10 annual visits per 100 adults. This represented an increase from 0.5% of doctor visits in 2003 to 2% in 2015.
Dr. Joanna Starrels, an associate professor in the department of medicine at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, said: "The most alarming finding in this study are the numbers about the elderly, this is the population that face the most danger from the drugs.”
"The elderly face an elevated risk of falls, confusion, cognitive impairment, in addition to overdose. These risks increase even more when elderly patients are co-prescribed benzodiazepines with opioids. This is the reason why societies like the American Geriatrics Society caution against them," added Starrels.
Keith Humphreys, a psychologist and Esther Ting Memorial Professor at Stanford University, called benzos the "Rodney Dangerfield" of drugs, which don't get the attention they deserve.
