Benzodiazepine and antidepressant use in elderly patients with anxiety disorders: A survey of 796 outpatients in Japan

• Published in: Journal of anxiety disorders 2009-05, Vol.23 (4), p.477-481
• Main Authors: Uchida, Hiroyuki, Suzuki, Takefumi, Mamo, David C, Mulsant, Benoit H, Kikuchi, Toshiaki, Takeuchi, Hiroyoshi, Tomita, Masayuki, Watanabe, Koichiro, Yagi, Gohei, Kashima, Haruo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Aging; Ambulatory Care - statistics & numerical data; Antidepressant; Antidepressant drugs; Antidepressive Agents - therapeutic use; Anxiety disorder; Anxiety Disorders - diagnosis; Anxiety Disorders - drug therapy; Anxiety Disorders - epidemiology; Anxiety disorders. Neuroses; Benzodiazepine; Benzodiazepines; Benzodiazepines - therapeutic use; Biological and medical sciences; Child; Cross-Sectional Studies; Elderly; Elderly people; Female; Humans; Japan; Male; Mass Screening; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Neuropharmacology; Neurotic disorder; Pharmacology. Drug treatments; Prescriptions; Psychiatry; Psychoanaleptics: cns stimulant, antidepressant agent, nootropic agent, mood stabilizer; Psychoanaleptics: cns stimulant, antidepressant agent, nootropic agent, mood stabilizer..., (alzheimer disease); Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Psychopharmacology; Sick elderly people; Surveys and Questionnaires; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0887-6185; 1873-7897
• DOI: 10.1016/j.janxdis.2008.10.003

Abstract Since the literature on benzodiazepine use in elderly patients with anxiety disorders is limited, a large cross-sectional review of psychotropic prescriptions in 796 patients with neurotic disorders (ICD-10) (age range = 11–91 years) was conducted across 30 sites in Japan. Use of benzodiazepine-derivative anxiolytics was approximately 70% in all decades without a group difference. The proportion of subjects who received prescriptions for benzodiazepine-derivative anxiolytics in the absence of antidepressants was higher in older age groups (e.g., 27.7% and 43.2% in the third and sixth decades, respectively). On the other hand, antidepressants were less frequently prescribed in older age groups (e.g., 59.8% and 41.5% in the third and sixth decades, respectively). The very high use of anxiolytics in the elderly, especially in the absence of concomitant antidepressant use, is a cause for concern since they are not a preferred long-term treatment strategy given their adverse effects in the elderly.