ReviewDrug and alcohol dependence2012
Polydrug abuse: a review of opioid and benzodiazepine combination use.
Review in Drug and alcohol dependence, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 270 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
270 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 701 citations in OpenAlex.
- Joint Clinical Practice Guideline on Benzodiazepine Tapering: Considerations When Risks Outweigh Benefits.Journal of general internal medicine · 2025Guideline
- Emotion regulation and substance use: A meta-analysis.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2022Pooled it
- Drug Use Disorders and Violence: Associations With Individual Drug Categories.Epidemiologic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Global patterns of opioid use and dependence: harms to populations, interventions, and future action.Lancet (London, England) · 2019Pooled it
- The epidemiology of benzodiazepine misuse: A systematic review.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2019Pooled it
- Brief intervention for inappropriate z-hypnotics use in older adults: a before and after intervention study in primary care.Scandinavian journal of primary health care · 2026Trial
- A pilot randomized clinical trial evaluating the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a cognitive-behavioral therapy adjunct to support benzodiazepine tapering among primary care patients coprescribed benzodiazepines and opioids.Psychology of addictive behaviors : journal of the Society of Psychologists in Addictive Behaviors · 2026Trial
- A brief intervention to discontinue inappropriate z-hypnotics use by older patients in primary care: a randomised controlled trial.BMC primary care · 2026Trial
- Augmenting the efficacy of benzodiazepine taper with telehealth-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety disorders in patients using prescription opioids: A pilot randomized controlled trial.Contemporary clinical trials · 2023Trial
- Reducing prescribing of benzodiazepines in older adults: a comparison of four physician-focused interventions by a medical regulatory authority.BMC family practice · 2021Trial
- Yoga, Physical Therapy, and Back Pain Education for Sleep Quality in Low-Income Racially Diverse Adults with Chronic Low Back Pain: a Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of general internal medicine · 2020Trial
- Daily patterns of opioid and stimulant use and associated risk-behavior outcomes: A cohort study.Addictive behaviors · 2026Article
- Benzodiazepines in Epilepsy: A US Perspective on Clinical Use, Pharmacology, Abuse Methods, and Public Health Considerations.Neurology and therapy · 2026Review
- Use of sedative drugs among adults reporting illicit opioid use or prescription opioid use in the United States, 2017-2024.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2026Article
- Global emergence and γ-aminobutyric acid type A (GABAArchives of toxicology · 2026Article
- Molecular Mechanisms of Acute Drug Toxicity in Polypharmacy: Analgesic-Psychotropic Interactions.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- Tramadol in drug-facilitated sexual assault: global case prevalence, pharmacology, and drug interactions.Journal of analytical toxicology · 2026Review
- Initiation of High-Potency Benzodiazepine Prescriptions Among Survivors of Severe Trauma.Acta anaesthesiologica Scandinavica · 2026Article
- Patterns of polysubstance use among people who use drugs on an American Indian reservation of a southern plains Tribal Nation.Harm reduction journal · 2026Article
- In vitro γ-aminobutyric acid A (GABACommunications chemistry · 2026Article
210 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
This paper reviews studies examining the pharmacological interactions and epidemiology of the combined use of opioids and benzodiazepines (BZDs). A search of English language publications from 1970 to 2012 was conducted using PubMed and PsycINFO(®). Our search found approximately 200 articles appropriate for inclusion in this paper. While numerous reports indicate that the co-abuse of opioids and BZDs is ubiquitous around the world, the reasons for the co-abuse of these medications are not entirely clear. Though the possibility remains that opioid abusers are using BZDs therapeutically to self-medicate anxiety, mania or insomnia, the data reviewed in this paper suggest that BZD use is primarily recreational. For example, co-users report seeking BZD prescriptions for the purpose of enhancing opioid intoxication or "high," and use doses that exceed the therapeutic range. Since there are few clinical studies investigating the pharmacological interaction and abuse liability of their combined use, this hypothesis has not been extensively evaluated in clinical settings. As such, our analysis encourages further systematic investigation of BZD abuse among opioid abusers. The co-abuse of BZDs and opioids is substantial and has negative consequences for general health, overdose lethality, and treatment outcome. Physicians should address this important and underappreciated problem with more cautious prescribing practices, and increased vigilance for abusive patterns of use.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.