ArticleDrug safety2015
Benzodiazepine Use and Risk of Developing Alzheimer's Disease or Vascular Dementia: A Case-Control Analysis.
Article in Drug safety, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 42 papers, 7 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
42 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 96 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Use of Drugs Affecting GABAMolecular neurobiology · 2025Pooled it
- Occupational Injuries and Use of Benzodiazepines: A Systematic Review and Metanalysis.Frontiers in human neuroscience · 2021Pooled it
- Identification of mental health and quality of life outcomes in primary care databases in the UK: a systematic review.BMJ open · 2019Pooled it
- Benzodiazepines and Related Drugs as a Risk Factor in Alzheimer's Disease Dementia.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2019Pooled it
- A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Risk of Dementia Associated with Benzodiazepine Use, After Controlling for Protopathic Bias.CNS drugs · 2018Pooled it
- Predicting dementia from primary care records: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2018Pooled it
- Retrospective case-control study of pre-diagnosis observational and prescription data in Parkinson's disease.Scientific reports · 2026Observational
- Benzodiazepine Dependence: Clinical and Molecular Aspects, Preventive Strategies and Therapeutic Approaches.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Review
- The impact of anticholinergic burden on the development of mild behavioral impairment.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Population-Based Validation Results From the Drug Repurposing for Effective Alzheimer's Medicines (DREAM) Study.Clinical pharmacology and therapeutics · 2025Article
- Long-Term Insomnia Treatment with Benzodiazepines and Alzheimer's Disease: A Systematic Review.NeuroSci · 2025Review
- Medication Exposure and Risk of Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- A model for identifying potentially inappropriate medication used in older people with dementia: a machine learning study.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2024Article
- Impaired sleep is associated with tau deposition onJournal of the neurological sciences · 2024Article
- Use of Benzodiazepines and Risk of Incident Dementia: A Retrospective Cohort Study.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2022Article
- Benzodiazepine and Z-Drug Use and the Risk of Developing Dementia.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2022Article
- Benzodiazepine use and the risk of dementia.Alzheimer's & dementia (New York, N. Y.) · 2022Article
- Impact of Pharmacotherapy on Insomnia in Patients with Alzheimer's Disease.Drugs & aging · 2021Review
- Sleep medication use and incident dementia in a nationally representative sample of older adults in the US.Sleep medicine · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionPrevious observational studies have associated benzodiazepine use with an increased risk of dementia. However, limitations in the study methods leave questions unanswered regarding the interpretation of the findings.
methodsA case-control analysis was conducted using data from the UK-based Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD). A total of 26,459 patients aged ≥65 years with newly diagnosed Alzheimer's disease (AD) or vascular dementia (VaD) between 1998 and 2013 were identified and matched 1:1 to dementia-free controls on age, sex, calendar time, general practice, and number of years of recorded history. Adjusted odds ratios (aORs) were calculated with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of developing AD or VaD in relation to previous benzodiazepine use, stratified by duration and benzodiazepine type.
resultsThe aOR (95% CI) of developing AD for those who started benzodiazepines <1 year before diagnosis was 2.20 (1.91-2.53), and fell to the null for those who started between 2 and <3 years before [aOR 0.99 (0.84-1.17)]. The aOR (95% CI) of developing VaD for those who started benzodiazepines <1 year before diagnosis was 3.30 (2.78-3.92), and fell close to the null for those who started between 3 and <4 years before [aOR 1.16 (0.96-1.40)]. After accounting for benzodiazepine use initiated during this prodromal phase, long-term use of benzodiazepines was not associated with an increased risk of developing AD [aOR 0.69 (0.57-0.85)] or VaD [aOR 1.11 (0.85-1.45)].
conclusionAfter taking a prodromal phase into consideration, benzodiazepine use was not associated with an increased risk of developing AD or VaD.
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.