ArticleCMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne2017
Risk of pneumonia associated with incident benzodiazepine use among community-dwelling adults with Alzheimer disease.
Article in CMAJ : Canadian Medical Association journal = journal de l'Association medicale canadienne, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
23 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 70 citations in OpenAlex.
- Traditional East Asian Herbal Medicine for Post-Stroke Insomnia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Pooled it
- Prolonged Hospitalization and Adverse Events in Veterans Awaiting Guardianship: A Retrospective Cohort Analysis.Journal of general internal medicine · 2025Article
- Analysis of risk-factors associated with hospital-acquired pneumonia in patients with alzheimer's disease based on gender differences.BMC geriatrics · 2025Article
- Pre- and Post- COVID-19 Pandemic Pneumonia Rates in Hospitalized Schizophrenia Patients.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Observational
- Article
- Use of potentially inappropriate psychotropic medicines among older adults in 23 residential aged care facilities in Australia: a retrospective cohort study.BMC geriatrics · 2024Article
- Risk factors and interventions for developing recurrent pneumonia in older adults.ERJ open research · 2023Article
- Mortality rates and proximal causes of death in patients with Lewy body dementia versus Alzheimer's disease: A longitudinal study using secondary care mental health records.International journal of geriatric psychiatry · 2023Article
- Risk factors of pneumonia in persons with and without Alzheimer's disease: a matched cohort study.BMC geriatrics · 2023Article
- Identifying Quality Indicators for Nursing Home Residents with Dementia: A Modified Delphi Method.Journal of geriatric psychiatry and neurology · 2023Review
- Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Patients with Dementia.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2022Article
- A protocol for a randomized controlled trial comparing Sleepwell, EMPOWER, and treatment-as-usual for benzodiazepine receptor agonist discontinuation in older adults: the your answers when needing sleep in New Brunswick (YAWNS NB) study.Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy · 2022Article
- Trends, correlates, and disease patterns of sedative-hypnotic use among elderly persons in Taiwan.BMC psychiatry · 2022Article
- Management of Systemic Medical Emergencies Associated with Psychotropic Medications.Indian journal of psychiatry · 2022Article
- Non-antipsychotic medicines and modified electroconvulsive therapy are risk factors for hospital-acquired pneumonia in schizophrenia patients.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- COVID-19-Related Mortality Risk in People With Severe Mental Illness: A Systematic and Critical Review.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Article
- Non-benzodiazepine hypnotic use for sleep disturbance in people aged over 55 years living with dementia: a series of cohort studies.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2021Article
- Adverse effects of Z-drugs for sleep disturbance in people living with dementia: a population-based cohort study.BMC medicine · 2020Article
- Psychotropic Drug-Associated Pneumonia in Older Adults.Drugs & aging · 2020Review
- Antiepileptic Drug Use Is Associated with an Increased Risk of Pneumonia Among Community-Dwelling Persons with Alzheimer's Disease-Matched Cohort Study.Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
8 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundKnowledge regarding whether benzodiazepines and similarly acting non-benzodiazepines (Z-drugs) are associated with an increased risk of pneumonia among older adults is lacking. We sought to investigate this association among community-dwelling adults with Alzheimer disease, a condition in which both sedative/hypnotic use and pneumonia are common.
methodsWe obtained data on all community-dwelling adults with a recent diagnosis of Alzheimer disease in Finland (2005-2011) from the Medication use and Alzheimer disease (MEDALZ) cohort, which incorporates national registry data on prescriptions, reimbursement, hospital discharges and causes of death. Incident users of benzodiazepines and Z-drugs were identified using a 1-year washout period and matched with nonusers using propensity scores. The association with hospital admission or death due to pneumonia was analyzed with the Cox proportional hazards model and adjusted for use of other psychotropic drugs in a time-dependent manner.
resultsAmong 49 484 eligible participants with Alzheimer disease, 5232 taking benzodiazepines and 3269 taking Z-drugs were matched 1:1 with those not taking these drugs. Collectively, use of benzodiazepines and Z-drugs was associated with an increased risk of pneumonia (adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 1.22, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.05-1.42). When analyzed separately, benzodiazepine use was significantly associated with an increased risk of pneumonia (adjusted HR 1.28, 95% CI 1.07-1.54), whereas Z-drug use was not (adjusted HR 1.10, 95% CI 0.84-1.44). The risk of pneumonia was greatest within the first 30 days of benzodiazepine use (HR 2.09, 95% CI 1.26-3.48).
interpretationBenzodiazepine use was associated with an increased risk of pneumonia among patients with Alzheimer disease. Risk of pneumonia should be considered when weighing the benefits and risks of benzodiazepines in this population.
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.