Benzodiazepine use in a small community hospital. Appropriate prescribing or not?
Benzodiazepine (BDZ)-prescribing patterns in relation to indications and to drug characteristics in a small short-stay hospital were examined. In a sample of 800 patients, 183 were prescribed BDZs during their stay. Female patients received more BDZs (BDZ:female patients 1.31:1.0) than males (BDZs:male patients 1.02:1.0), particularly in the 21-40-year age group in which polypharmacy was highest. BDZs were classified according to their elimination half-lives. Our data showed that the majority fell into the long-acting (half-life greater than 24 h) (55%) and intermediate-acting (half-life 12-24 h) (20.7%) categories, despite the fact that most indications (pre-anaesthetic and night-time sedation; total 71.6%) called for the shorter-acting drugs. The merits or otherwise of this situation are discussed, and a number of questions put regarding the validity of this approach. Overall, BDZs accounted for 5.8% of the calculated medications given to the 800-patient sample.
Summers
R S
RS
School of Pharmacy, Medical University of Southern Africa, Pretoria.
Schutte
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A
Summers
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B
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001569:Benzodiazepines / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D002648:Child; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004363:Drug Utilization; D005260:Female; D006764:Hospitals, Community; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013019:South Africa
D001569:Benzodiazepines