Although designer benzodiazepines (DBZDs) constitute a minor part of new psychoactive substances, they deserve the greatest attention because of their popularity among drug users and increasing number...
For this narrative review, a nonsystematic search was performed on PubMed, EMBASE, Google Scholar, and PubMed Central databases between June and July 2021....
The current consensus hypothesis suggests that DBZDs mediate their effects through interactions with the GABA A receptor, producing similar effects to benzodiazepines used in therapy, including sedati...
Understanding the mechanism of action and other pharmacological metrics is highly important in the clinical management of DBZDs....
Downregulation of cell surface β-adrenergic receptors (β-AR) is an important adaptive response that prevents deleterious effects of receptor overstimulation. Various factors including reactive oxygen ...
Dementia is considered a clinical syndrome characterized by cognitive dysfunction and memory loss. Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia. AD is linked with the turbulence of div...
To evaluate the effect of COVID-19 lockdown on the prescription of benzodiazepines by gender, age and district health departments....
Longitudinal observational study....
Primary care. Asturias (Spain) health district V....
People over 15 years of age with filled benzodiazepine prescriptions in between 2017 and 2020....
Benzodiazepine DHD (defined daily dose per 1000 habitants) mean difference between the period defined as pre-lockdown and lockdown. Additionally, the difference was adjusted for gender, sex and distri...
DHD mean pre-lockdown was 131.3 and 139.5 in the lockdown; this difference was significant in the global analysis (95% CI: 4.1-12.1). There was an increase in the DHD mean in the 60-74 age group (95% ...
Certain subgroups show a change in the pattern of benzodiazepine prescription without being able to relate this to the lockdown. We believe that there could be some inertia in the prescription of psyc...
The use of benzodiazepines as a treatment for insomnia can have side effects such as impaired coordination causing falls in adults and even dependence....
To assess the factors associated with dependence on benzodiazepines in patients with insomnia....
Observational, cross-sectional, prospective, and analytical study, at the first level of care. Patients older than 18 years with a diagnosis of insomnia and a benzodiazepine prescription were selected...
107 patients were included. Median age 67 years, predominantly female (72%), 74% attended secondary school or more, 71% had more than 3 years of diagnosis, 84% used clonazepam. The 54% presented depen...
Primary schooling showed a lower risk of presenting dependence on benzodiazepines. The risk was increased in those with more than 3 years of diagnosis, and in those with moderate and severe insomnia....
Benzodiazepines are widely used in the treatment of anxiety disorders and sleep disturbances, but negative cognitive side effects have been reported after long-term use. Studies on the cognitive effec...
This study examined cognitive performance on four cognitive domains in long-term benzodiazepine users, compared to normative data. Furthermore, it was examined whether sex, age, benzodiazepine dose, a...
Neuropsychological tests targeting different cognitive domains were administered to 92 patients with long-term benzodiazepine use who were accepted for enrolment into a benzodiazepine discontinuation ...
Of the long-term benzodiazepine users, 20.7% could be classified as cognitively impaired across all domains, with the largest effects found in the domains processing speed and sustained attention, and...
These results extend those of earlier studies on benzodiazepine effects on specific cognitive domains. This study implies an overall detrimental cognitive effect in long-term benzodiazepine users rath...
The goals of this study were to describe opioid and benzodiazepine prescribing practices in the gynecologic oncology patient population and determine risks for opioid misuse in these patients....
Retrospective study of opioid and benzodiazepine prescriptions for patients treated for cervical, ovarian (including fallopian tube/primary peritoneal), and uterine cancers within a single healthcare ...
A total of 7643 prescriptions for opioids and/or benzodiazepines were dispensed to 3252 patients over 5754 prescribing encounters for cervical (n=2602, 34.1%), ovarian (n=2468, 32.3%), and uterine (n=...
Opioid and benzodiazepine prescribing patterns differ for cervical, ovarian, and uterine cancer patients. Gynecologic oncology patients are overall at low risk for opioid misuse; however, patients wit...
The prognostic implications of using benzodiazepines (BZD) in heart failure (HF) patients are still unknown....
This study aimed to assess the association of BZD use with all‑cause death in ambulatory, chronic HF patients....
We investigated a retrospective cohort of ambulatory HF patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD). The patients were followed up from their first medical appointment until January 202...
We studied 854 patients (69% men), of mean (SD) age 71 (13) years, of whom 51% had severe LSVD, and 242 (28.3%) regularly used BZD. During a median follow‑up of 46 months, 443 patients (51.9%) died. B...
The patients medicated with BZD presented a 36% higher risk of dying. BZD should probably be used with caution, particularly in older HF patients and in those with CKD....
Benzodiazepine and antipsychotic medications are routinely prescribed for symptom management in hospice patients, but have significant risks for older adults. We explored the extent to which patient a...
Cross-sectional analysis of hospice-enrolled Medicare beneficiaries aged ≥65 years in 2017 (N = 1,393,622 in 4219 hospice agencies). The main outcome was the hospice agency-level rate of enrollees wit...
In 2017, hospice agency prescribing rates varied widely: for benzodiazepines, from a median of 11.9% (IQR 5.9,22.2) in the lowest-prescribing quintile to 80.0% (IQR 76.9,84.2) in the highest-prescribi...
Prescribing in hospice settings varies markedly across factors other than the clinical characteristics of enrolled patients....
A recent systematic review and meta-analysis by Wang and colleagues in the British Journal of Anaesthesia calls into question the concept that perioperative benzodiazepine administration is associated...
