Trial reportThe British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners2016
Efficacy of two interventions on the discontinuation of benzodiazepines in long-term users: 36-month follow-up of a cluster randomised trial in primary care.
Trial report in The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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
20 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Comparative effectiveness of interventions to facilitate deprescription of benzodiazepines and other sedative hypnotics: systematic review and meta-analysis.BMJ (Clinical research ed.) · 2025Pooled it
- Outcomes in deprescribing implementation trials and compliance with expert recommendations: a systematic review.BMC geriatrics · 2023Pooled it
- Brief interventions targeting long-term benzodiazepine and Z-drug use in primary care: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Addiction (Abingdon, England) · 2020Pooled it
- Long-term persistence of withdrawal of temazepam, zopiclone, and zolpidem in older adults: a 3-year follow-up study.BMC geriatrics · 2018Trial
- Impact of Deprescribing Among Older Adults in Primary Care Settings: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Aging medicine (Milton (N.S.W)) · 2026Review
- Pathways to chronic benzodiazepine use: a qualitative study of user and professional perspectives.BMC primary care · 2026Article
- Cost-utility analysis of benzodiazepine deprescription in primary care: a cohort study.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Benzodiazepine receptor agonist deprescribing principles for long-term use and dependence: modified Delphi recommendations from a multi-disciplinary expert panel.Therapeutic advances in psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Examining Adult Patients' Success with Discontinuing Long-term Benzodiazepine Use: a Qualitative Study.Journal of general internal medicine · 2024Article
- Deprescribing clonazepam in primary care older patients: a feasibility study.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2022Article
- Addressing Barriers to Reducing Prescribing and Implementing Deprescribing of Sedative-Hypnotics in Primary Care.The Annals of pharmacotherapy · 2022Article
- Deprescribing intervention activities mapped to guiding principles for use in general practice: a scoping review.BMJ open · 2021Article
- Article
- A Durable Minimal Intervention Strategy to Reduce Benzodiazepine Use in a Primary Care Population.Korean journal of family medicine · 2020Article
- Benzodiazepine usage and patient preference for alternative therapies: A descriptive study.Health science reports · 2019Article
- Effectiveness of an intervention to optimise the use of mirabegron for overactive bladder: a quasi-experimental study in primary care.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2018Article
- Deprescribing Benzodiazepines in Older Patients: Impact of Interventions Targeting Physicians, Pharmacists, and Patients.Drugs & aging · 2018Review
- Successful withdrawal from high-dose benzodiazepine in a young patient through electronic monitoring of polypharmacy: a case report in an ambulatory setting.Therapeutic advances in psychopharmacology · 2017Review
- Discontinuation of benzodiazepines.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2016Article
- Integrating primary mental health care and mental health promotion.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPrimary care interventions that promote cessation of benzodiazepine (BZD) use in long-term users are effective at 1 year, but their efficacy at 3 years is uncertain.
aimTo assess the 3-year efficacy of two primary care interventions delivered by GPs on cessation of BZD use in long-term users. DESIGN AND
settingMulticentre, three-arm, cluster randomised, controlled trial, with random allocation at the GP level.
methodSeventy-five GPs and 532 patients were randomly allocated to three groups: usual care (control), structured intervention with stepped-dose reduction and follow-up visits (SIF), or structured intervention with written stepped-dose reduction (SIW). The primary outcome was BZD use at 36 months.
resultsAt 36 months, 66/168 patients (39.2%) in the SIW group, 79/191 patients (41.3%) in the SIF group, and 45/173 patients (26.0%) in the control group had discontinued BZD use. The relative risks (RR) adjusted by cluster were 1.51 (95% CI = 1.10 to 2.05; P = 0.009) in the SIW group and 1.59 (95% CI = 1.15 to 2.19; P = 0.005) in the SIF group. A total of 131/188 patients (69.7%) who successfully discontinued BZD use at 12 months remained abstinent at 36 months. The groups showed no significant differences in anxiety, depression, or sleep dissatisfaction at 36 months.
conclusionThe interventions were effective on cessation of BZD use; most patients who discontinued at 12 months remained abstinent at 3 years. Discontinuation of BZD use did not have a significant effect on anxiety, depression, or sleep quality.
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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.