Benzodiazepine prescribing to the Swiss adult population: results from a national survey of community pharmacies.
The purpose of the study was to assess prevalence of benzodiazepine use in the Swiss adult population and to assess on benzodiazepine prescription patterns of physicians in domiciliary practice.


METHODS
A retrospective, population-based cross-sectional study with 520 000 patients covering a 6-month period.


METHODS
We estimated the prevalence, amount and duration of benzodiazepine use using a pharmacy dispensing database.


RESULTS
Of all patients, 9.1% (n=45 309) received at least one benzodiazepine prescription in the 6-month period. Most persons receiving benzodiazepine prescriptions were women (67%), and half of all patients were aged 65 or older. Of 45 309 patients with benzodiazepine prescriptions, 44% (n=19 954) had one single prescription, mostly for a short period (<90 days) and in lower than the recommended dose range. Fifty-six percent (n=25 354) had repeated benzodiazepine prescriptions, mostly for a long time period (>90 days), and in lower than the recommended or within the recommended dose range. In patients with long-term use (n=25 354), however, 1.6% had benzodiazepine prescriptions in extremely high doses. The sample of patients with repeated prescriptions allowed an estimation of a benzodiazepine use of 43.3 daily defined doses per 1000 inhabitants in Switzerland.


CONCLUSIONS
Benzodiazepine prescriptions were appropriate for most patients and thus were prescribed in therapeutic doses, as indicated in the treatment guidelines. On the other hand, our survey showed that 1.6% of the patients had prescriptions for long time periods at very high doses, indicating an abuse or dependence on benzodiazepines in this subgroup.
Petitjean
Sylvie
S
Division of Substance Use Disorders, University Psychiatric Clinics Basel, Wilhelm Klein-Strasse 27, CH-4025 Basel, Switzerland. sylvie.petitjean@upkbs.ch
Ladewig
Dieter
D
Meier
Christoph R
CR
Amrein
Roman
R
Wiesbeck
Gerhard A
GA
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001569:Benzodiazepines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004363:Drug Utilization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010594:Pharmacies / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013557:Switzerland
D001569:Benzodiazepines