SU10 - PHARMACOGENETIC TESTING HELPS TO REDUCE BENZODIAZEPINE AND SLEEP MEDICATION USE IN PATIENTS WITH ANXIETY

Abstract

Background Despite evidence of public health concerns for overuse of benzodiazepines and sleep medications in the psychiatric population, reliable data on these prescribed medication use remain unavailable. Prescription rates for sleep aids and benzodiazepines have grown significantly more rapidly in the past decade than insomnia diagnoses (Moloney et al., 2011). Anxiety disorders were amongst the most frequent reason these medications were given because benzodiazepines can quickly relieve anxiousness and anxiety often causes sleep disturbance where sleep medications may be helpful to treat. The purpose of the study was to determine whether psychiatric pharmacogenomic testing will help reduce benzodiazepine and/or sleep medication use in patients who have an anxiety disorder. Methods To evaluate whether the pharmacogenomic testing reduces the amount of prescribed benzodiazepine and/or sleep medication(s) used, we analyzed data from a study. Individualized Medicine: Pharmacogenetic Assessment and Clinical Treatment (IMPACT) and identified 597 participants with an anxiety disorder who have medications and follow-up data on symptom severity using the GAD-7 questionnaire. We performed the analysis of variance repeated measures test for a change in the GAD-7 symptom severity scores and the McNemar's Test to compare the total number of medication use. Results The analyses showed that the pharmacogenetic testing resulted in significant improvement of anxiety symptoms (F=56.914, P Discussion Although the pharmacogenetic testing in this study does not include guidance for benzodiazepines and sleep medications, the use of the test can lead to more effective treatment of the underlying anxiety symptoms and may lead to a reduction in benzodiazepine and sleep medication use.