title: Patterns of benzodiazepine prescribing by neuropsychiatrists and general practitioners for elderly patients in Germany in 2014 .
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The patterns of benzodiazepine prescriptions in older adults are of general and scientific interest as they are not yet well understood. The aim of this study was to compare the prescription patterns of benzodiazepines in elderly people in Germany to determine the share or proportion treated by general practitioners (GP) and neuropsychiatrists (NP).
  
  
  METHODS
  This study included 31,268 and 6,603 patients between the ages of 65 and 100 with at least one benzodiazepine prescription in 2014 from GP and NP, respectively. Demographic data included age, gender, and type of health insurance coverage. The share of elderly people with benzodiazepine prescriptions was estimated in different age and disease groups for both GP and NP patients. The share of the six most commonly prescribed drugs was also calculated for each type of practice.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The share of people taking benzodiazepines prescribed by GP increased from 3.2% in patients aged between 65 and 69 years to 8.6% in patients aged between 90 and 100 years, whereas this share increased from 5.4% to 7.1% in those seen by NP. Benzodiazepines were frequently used by patients suffering from sleep disorders (GP: 33.9%; NP: 5.5%), depression (GP: 17.9%; NP: 29.8%), and anxiety disorders (GP: 14.5%; NP: 22.8%). Lorazepam (30.3%), oxazepam (24.7%), and bromazepam (24.3%) were the three most commonly prescribed drugs for GP patients. In contrast, lorazepam (60.4%), diazepam (14.8%), and oxazepam (11.2%) were those more frequently prescribed to NP patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Prescription patterns of benzodiazepine in the elderly varied widely between GP and NP. .
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mell
authors.forename: Louis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jacob
authors.forename: Ida
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Fuhr
authors.forename: Sandra
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dick
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Rapp
authors.forename: Karel
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kostev
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001569:Benzodiazepines / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D004363:Drug Utilization; D005260:Female; D058005:General Practitioners; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D058027:Neuropsychiatry; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D001569:Benzodiazepines