Prolonged Use of Benzodiazepines for Sleep Disturbances in the Elderly: Quality of Sleep and Related Comorbidities
Journal Title: International Neuropsychiatric Disease Journal - Year 2015, Vol 4, Issue 2
Abstract
Introduction: Insomnia is frequently found in older people, and may be symptomatic of underlying comorbid conditions. The use of drug therapy for the symptomatic relief of insomnia is widespread, with the most common class of agents used for this indication being benzodiazepines. Objective: To investigate the relationship between comorbidities and the associated use of benzodiazepines among older people living in the community. Methods: We evaluated a sample of 27 subjects who were using benzodiazepines for at least 3 months, compared to 33 non-users constituting the control group. Results: Those using benzodiazepines had higher comorbidity, more impaired cognition, greater anxiety, and poorer sleep quality than controls. However, based on a multivariate logistic regression model, only poor quality of sleep correlated significantly with the prolonged use of benzodiazepines (OR=1.96, 95% CI= 1.34-2.85, p<0.01). Conclusion: This small study strengthens the need to limit the use of this class of drugs in older people with sleep disturbances.
Authors and Affiliations
Yan Press, Igor Munteanu, Tzvi Dwolatzky, Oleg Choumeiko, Roni Peleg
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP241526
- DOI 10.9734/INDJ/2015/17216
- Views 125
- Downloads 0
Mindfulness, Sexual Functioning, and Subjective Sexual Well-Being
Although there are several studies that address mindfulness, sexual functioning, and subjective sexual well-being separately, there are very few studies that explore the associations between these three constructs. There...
Correlations between the Serum Antibody Levels to Herpes Family Viruses and Multi-parametric Immunity Characteristics with Clinical Symptoms in Episodic Remittent form of Paranoid Schizophrenia
Background: Recent etiological studies for schizophrenia have been focused on the herpes family viruses. The majority of these studies were aimed at detection of increased specific antibodies level. An important aspect o...
Verbal Fluency is Related to Theory of Mind: Comparison in Control Children and with Autism Spectrum Disorder
Autism is a pervasive neurodevelopment disorder, primarily encompassing difficulties in the social, language, and communicative domains. Although neurocognitive impairments in theory of mind (ToM) and in executive functi...
Nbia-neurodegeneration with Brain Iron Accumulation: A Rare Case Report with Review of Literature
NBIA (Neurodegeneration with Brain Iron Accumulation) is a rare disorder with varied age group of presentation but mostly detected in childhood. It is a progressive disease with basic extra-pyramidal symptoms and an auto...
Can Serum Levels of C-Reactive Protein (CRP), Interleukin-6 and Copeptin Discriminate between Simple and Complex Febrile Seizures?
Objectives: To evaluate serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), Interleukin-6 (IL-6) and copeptin in children with febrile seizure (FS) and their ability to discriminate between simple (SFS) and complex FS (XFS). Patie...