Abstract
Objectives: Benzodiazepines are effective and safe drugs for treatment of insomnia, anxiety, epilepsy and muscle spasm, but there is also a potential for harmful use, abuse and addiction. Even though these drugs are used extensively, have been on the market for 50 years, and quite a few reports have been published on risk factors and patterns of use, the basic epidemiological parameters of use, such as incidence, prevalence, mean volume used and duration of use have not been documented in Norway. The aim of this study was to describe these basic pharmacoepidemiological parameters of benzodiazepine use.Methods: Data were drawn from the Norwegian prescription database with an observation period of 5 years and 10 months between January 2004 and October 2009.Results: Around 61 per 1000 Norwegians filled at least one prescription each year in the observation period. The annual incidence rate of new users was 15 per 1000 in 2007, falling to 12 per 1000 in 2009. Of the users of benzodiazepines 65% were female, and they used a lower mean volume than men did. The mean volume used was often very low and for the most part was quite stable. The average length of use was estimated to bebetween 9 and 15 years. In addition to fewer incident users, the mean volume used also seemed to be declining.Conclusion: Most benzodiazepine use in Norway lasted a short period or at a very low level. Some individuals, however, carried on using benzodiazepines for years
Highlights
Benzodiazepines have been on the market for more than 50 years and still have a wide range of uses
Data for this study were taken from the Norwegian prescription database (NorPD) at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health
The Norwegian Prescription Database (NorPD) cannot be used in the control of individual patients or prescribers, but they can still be followed over time
Summary
Benzodiazepines have been on the market for more than 50 years and still have a wide range of uses They are considered effective and safe drugs for the short term treatment of anxiety, insomnia, epilepsy and muscle spasms. They are used for mild or deep sedation during different kinds of inventions, including surgery. In addition to the benzodiazepines currently marketed some additional ones are so called ‘compassionately prescribed’. These include the sleeping drug triazolam (0.15% of all benzodiazepine use) and the anti anxiety drugs lorazepam, clobazam and bromazepam which account for 0.02%, 0.75% and 0.01% of the market respectively (www.reseptregisteret.no; accessed June 6th 2011)
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