[Medication dependency and physician's role].
The administration of benzodiazepines in suicidal, anxious, or agitated patients with depression is common international practice. Nevertheless, the prescription of BZDs is recommended to be limited to a period of a few weeks. There are several epidemiological studies about the situation in Germany, but many questions are still unanswered. The BfArM sought a new method to track prescription of medications with the risk to induce dependency. The present article describes the methodology and the early results of the pilot study. As a new approach, data from a processing center for pharmacies were used; patient-years, a risk scale with six steps, and diazepam-equivalence dose instead of defined daily dose were used for the analysis. About 35% of prescriptions were long-term treatment. Even if several physicians prescribe the medication, the main physician prescribing the medication can identify the risk level of the patient in 80-90% of cases.
Holzbach
R
R
LWL-Kliniken Warstein und Lippstadt, Franz-Hegemann-Str. 23, 59581, Warstein, Deutschland. ruediger.holzbach@wkp-lwl.org
Martens
M
M
Kalke
J
J
Raschke
P
P
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001569:Benzodiazepines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010819:Physician's Role; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055656:Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015995:Prevalence; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D055815:Young Adult
D000928:Antidepressive Agents; D001569:Benzodiazepines