Characteristics of benzodiazepine long-term users : investigation of benzodiazepine consumers among pharmacy customers

A sample of 171 benzodiazepine (bzd) users was investigated in the pharmacy where the patients filled in their prescriptions. Of the sample, 29.8% were males and 70.2% were females. About 60% of the patients had their current prescription from a general practitioner, the rest from different speciali...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychopharmacologia 1991-01, Vol.103 (2), p.233-239
Main Authors: BARNAS, C, FLEISCHHACKER, W. W, WHITWORTH, A. B, SCHETT, P, STUPPAÊCK, C, HINTERHUBER, H
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Anti-Anxiety Agents - pharmacology
Attitude
Benzodiazepines
Biological and medical sciences
Drug Prescriptions
Drug toxicity and drugs side effects treatment
Female
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Miscellaneous (drug allergy, mutagens, teratogens...)
Pharmacies
Pharmacology. Drug treatments
Psychotropic Drugs
Regression Analysis
Substance-Related Disorders - psychology
Surveys and Questionnaires
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Summary:A sample of 171 benzodiazepine (bzd) users was investigated in the pharmacy where the patients filled in their prescriptions. Of the sample, 29.8% were males and 70.2% were females. About 60% of the patients had their current prescription from a general practitioner, the rest from different specialists. 70.8% stated to take bzds on more than 3 days of the week. The mean duration of intake of the entire sample was 4.5 years. The most frequent reasons for bzd intake were sleep disturbance followed by nervousness and somatic diseases. A total of 74.9% of the patients turned out to be well informed about the potential dependence hazards of bzd long term intake, but less than half of them had been informed by the prescribing physician. In a second step it could be demonstrated by means of multiple stepwise logistic regression analysis that certain characteristic parameters differentiate long-term users and persons with signs of potential abuse and dependence from other bzd users.
ISSN:0033-3158
1432-2072
DOI:10.1007/BF02244209