Regular Research ArticlesEffect of Benzodiazepine Discontinuation on Dementia Risk
Section snippets
Study Setting
This study utilized one of the subsets of the National Health Insurance Research Database (NHIRD) in Taiwan, the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database 2005 (LHID2005), which contains all the original claims data of 1,000,000 beneficiaries, randomly sampled from the year 2005 Registry for Beneficiaries of the NHIRD; everyone who was a beneficiary of the National Health Insurance (NHI) program during any period in 2005 was in the population; there are approximately 22.72 million individuals in
RESULTS
We identified 8,434 cases of dementia and 16,706 comparison subjects in our analysis. The mean follow-up period was 9.1 years (standard deviation = 1.9). Cases and comparison subjects did not differ significantly in terms of age or sex. Generally, cases had higher dementia risk scores and were more likely to be comorbid with medical and psychiatric disorders. The details of the demographic characteristics and comorbidities of the cases and comparison subjects are shown in Table 1.
The frequency
DISCUSSION
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study investigating the effect of BZD discontinuation on the risk of dementia, using population-based claims data with a detailed description of BZD cumulative doses and duration of discontinuation. The results showed that BZD discontinuation was inversely associated with decreased risks of dementia among previous BZD users, and there seemed to be a dose– response trend, further supporting our hypotheses. In addition, when we divided our subjects
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Association between benzodiazepine use and development of dementia
2021, Medicina ClinicaCitation Excerpt :Our results show a weak association between benzodiazepine use and development of dementia of the Alzheimer type, with an adjusted Odds Ratio equal to 1.05 (95% CI: 1.01, 1.07). This suggests a weaker association between the studied factor and the disease in comparison to other works in which a relationship between benzodiazepine use and development of dementia of the Alzheimer type is detected, either with prospective designs13-15 or with case–control ones.16-18 A meta-analysis by Zhong in 2015 in which six studies were reviewed,19 the author found an OR of 1.49 (95% CI 1.30–1.72).
Association between concurrent antidepressant and hypnotic treatment and the risk of dementia: A nationwide cohort study
2020, Journal of Affective DisordersUncertain Association Between Benzodiazepine Use and the Risk of Dementia: A Cohort Study
2020, Journal of the American Medical Directors AssociationCitation Excerpt :However, subsequent prospective cohort studies reported no association.15,18 The association between the long-term use of benzodiazepines and the risk of dementia has been controversial due to inconsistencies in the duration-response results.12,18,32 Likewise, a nested case-control study using the healthcare database in the United Kingdom found no association with the application of a 4-year lag-time.35
Cognitive Outcomes of Long-term Benzodiazepine and Related Drug (BDZR) Use in People Living With Mild to Moderate Alzheimer's Disease: Results From NILVAD
2020, Journal of the American Medical Directors AssociationCitation Excerpt :Although issues around dependence may make BDZR discontinuation difficult, guidelines for titrated reductions exist,19 and discontinuation has been shown to be safe and feasible in older adults.28,29 BDZR discontinuation has been associated with shorter lengths of hospitalization in older patients who are frail in addition to a decrease in dementia risk posed by BDZR medications.28,29 A recent review advocates for a stepwise approach to discontinuation in cognitively intact individuals, with a lower threshold for discontinuation in those with dementia.30