title: Prevalence and sociodemographic characteristics associated with benzodiazepines use among community dwelling older adults: the Bambuí Health and Aging Study (BHAS).
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the prevalence and sociodemographic characteristics associated with benzodiazepine use among community-dwelling older adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  1606 subjects, aged > 60 years, corresponding to 92% of the residents of Bambuí city, participated in this study. The information about medication use was obtained by means of a standard interview and the review of medication packaging. Substances were classified using the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Index.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The prevalence of benzodiazepine current use was 21.7% (26.7% among females and 14.0% among males). From these, 68.7% had been taking the medication for over one year, 31.3% for over five years and 53.2% were using long half-life benzodiazepines. The medication most frequently used was bromazepam (35.6%), followed by diazepam (22.5%), clonazepam (12.6%) and lorazepam (7.8%). After adjustment for confounders, female gender (RP = 1.93; CI95% = 1.51-2.46) was the only sociodemographic characteristic found to be independently associated with substance consumption.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The prevalence of benzodiazepine use in the study population was high, but within the variation observed in developed countries. Chronic use of benzodiazepines and long half-life medications predominated.
authors.affiliation: Public Health and Aging Research Group, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (FIOCRUZ) and Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil. lima-costa@cpqrr.fiocruz.br
authors.forename: Jussara Mendonça
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Alvarenga
authors.forename: Antônio Ignácio de
authors.initials: AI
authors.lastname: Loyola Filho
authors.forename: Josélia Oliveira Araújo
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Firmo
authors.forename: Maria Fernanda
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Lima-Costa
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Uchoa
mesh_terms: D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*; D001569:Benzodiazepines / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001938:Brazil / Q000453:epidemiology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D005260:Female; D015577:Geriatric Assessment; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017891:Pharmacoepidemiology; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D015813:Substance Abuse Detection / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*
chemical_list: D014151:Anti-Anxiety Agents; D001569:Benzodiazepines