title: An association between benzodiazepine use and occurrence of benign brain tumors.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  This study was designed to evaluate the impact of long-term benzodiazepine use on the subsequent risk of benign brain tumor (BBT) or malignant brain tumor (MBT) development.
  
  
  METHODS
  We used data from the National Health Insurance System of Taiwan. For the study cohort, we identified 62,186 patients who had been prescribed benzodiazepine for at least 2 months between January 1, 2000 and December, 31, 2009. For each of the benzodiazepine cases, we randomly selected one insured person from the non-benzodiazepine cohort with frequency matching sex, age, and year of index date. The non-benzodiazepine cohort comprised 62,050 patients. The related hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of developing brain tumors were investigated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall BBT incidence rate was 3.33-fold higher in the benzodiazepine cohort than the non-benzodiazepine cohort (46.3 vs 13.9 per 100,000 person-years) with an adjusted HR of 3.15 (95% CI=2.37-4.20). Similarly, the MBT incidence rate was 84% higher in the benzodiazepine cohort (3.71 vs 2.02 per 1000 person-years), and the adjusted HR of 1.21 (95% CI=0.52-2.81) was not statistically significant. When compared with the non-benzodiazepine cohort, the adjusted HRs of BBTs increased with benzodiazepine dosage (adjusted HR=2.12, 95% CI=1.45-3.10, for 36-150 mg/year; adjusted HR=7.03, 95% CI=5.19-9.51, for ≥151 mg/year).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In this population-based study, we found a significant increase in the risk of benign brain tumor development in a cohort of long-term BZD users.
authors: Department of Neurosurgery, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, Hualien, Taiwan; College of Medicine, Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan.
authors: Tomor
authors: T
authors: Harnod
authors: Management Office for Health Data, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; Department of Public Health, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors: Cheng-Li
authors: CL
authors: Lin
authors: Management Office for Health Data, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; Department of Public Health, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan.
authors: Fung-Chang
authors: FC
authors: Sung
authors: Department of Nuclear Medicine and PET Center, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Science, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taiwan. Electronic address: d10040@mail.cmuh.org.tw.
authors: Chia-Hung
authors: CH
authors: Kao
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001569:Benzodiazepines / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D011159:Population Surveillance / Q000379:methods; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D001569:Benzodiazepines
keywords: Benign brain tumor (BBT); Benzodiazepine; Cohort study; Malignant brain tumor (MBT); National Health Insurance System; Population-based