ArticleAddiction (Abingdon, England)2020
Associations between prescribed benzodiazepines, overdose death and buprenorphine discontinuation among people receiving buprenorphine.
Article in Addiction (Abingdon, England), 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT04622995 (Exploring the Utility and Safety of Benzodiazepine Prescribing Among People Receiving Opiate Replacement Therapy in Scotland), which is not on this map. Cited by 43 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
Exploring the Utility and Safety of Benzodiazepine Prescribing Among People Receiving Opiate Replacement Therapy in Scotland (the BENZORT Study).
Who cites it
43 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 72 citations in OpenAlex.
- Clinical outcomes associated with drug-drug interactions involving buprenorphine: a systematic review.Addiction science & clinical practice · 2026Pooled it
- The association between benzodiazepine co-prescription, opioid agonist treatment and mortality: a systematic review.BMC psychiatry · 2024Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Electronic Intervention for Patient-Managed Benzodiazepine Tapering: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2026Trial
- Polysubstance use before and during treatment with medication for opioid use disorder: Prevalence and association with treatment outcomes.Journal of substance abuse treatment · 2022Trial
- Trial
- Changes in opioid prescribing and high-risk co-prescribing after implementation of the 2016 CDC opioid guideline among older adults with and without cancer.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2026Article
- Article
- Differential impacts of exon 1-associated and exon 11-associated variants of the rat mu opioid receptor gene, Oprm1, on buprenorphine- and morphine-induced analgesia and respiratory depression in male rats.Molecular pharmacology · 2026Article
- Predictors of Incident Benzodiazepine Co-prescription Among Patients Prescribed Long-term Opioids.Journal of general internal medicine · 2026Article
- Benzodiazepine Use Among Patients Receiving Methadone Maintenance Treatment: A Descriptive Study.Drug design, development and therapy · 2026Article
- Implementing Benzodiazepine Deprescribing in the Primary Care Clinic.JAMA internal medicine · 2026Article
- A feasibility study of a co-designed intervention to manage benzodiazepine dependence and high-risk use in those receiving opioid agonist treatment.Pilot and feasibility studies · 2025Article
- Fatalities in opioid agonist treatment with long-acting injectable buprenorphine.International journal of legal medicine · 2025Article
- Overdose education and naloxone distribution among women with a history of OUD transitioning to the community following jail release.Health & justice · 2025Article
- Severity of post-traumatic stress and non-medical, concomitant opioid and benzodiazepine use in a sample of women at high risk of overdose.International journal of mental health and addiction · 2025Article
- Article
- Benzodiazepine Use Among Individuals with Opioid Use Disorder: A Narrative Review.Substance abuse and rehabilitation · 2025Review
- The role of prescribed controlled substance acquisition as potential triggers of opioid overdose: A case-crossover study.The International journal on drug policy · 2024Article
- Clinical Outcomes of Benzodiazepine Prescribing for People Receiving Opioid Agonist Treatment: A Systematic Review of the Evidence.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
aimsBenzodiazepines are commonly prescribed to patients with opioid use disorder receiving buprenorphine treatment, yet may increase overdose risk. However, prescribed benzodiazepines may improve retention in care by reducing buprenorphine discontinuation and thus may prevent relapse to illicit opioid use. We aimed to test the association between benzodiazepine prescription and fatal opioid overdose, non-fatal opioid overdose, all-cause mortality and buprenorphine discontinuation. DESIGN AND
settingThis was a retrospective cohort study using five individually linked data sets from Massachusetts, United States government agencies.
participantsWe studied 63 389 Massachusetts residents aged 18 years or older who received buprenorphine treatment between January 2012 and December 2015. MEASUREMENTS: Filled benzodiazepine prescription during buprenorphine treatment was the main independent variable. The primary outcome was time to fatal opioid overdose. Secondary outcomes were time to non-fatal opioid overdose, all-cause mortality and buprenorphine discontinuation. We defined buprenorphine discontinuation as having a 30-day gap without another prescription following the end date of the previous prescription. We used Cox proportional hazards models to calculate hazards ratios that tested the association between receipt of benzodiazepines and all outcomes, restricted to periods during buprenorphine treatment.
findingsOf the 63 345 individuals who received buprenorphine, 24% filled at least one benzodiazepine prescription during buprenorphine treatment. Thirty-one per cent of the 183 deaths from opioid overdose occurred when individuals received benzodiazepines during buprenorphine treatment. Benzodiazepine receipt during buprenorphine treatment was associated with an increased risk of fatal opioid overdose adjusted hazard ratio (HR) = 2.92, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 2.10-4.06, non-fatal opioid overdose, adjusted HR = 2.05, 95% CI, 1.68-2.50, all-cause mortality, adjusted HR = 1.90, 95% CI, 1.48-2.44 and a decreased risk of buprenorphine discontinuation, adjusted HR = 0.87, 95% CI, 0.85-0.89.
conclusionsBenzodiazepine receipt appears to be associated with both increased risk of opioid overdose and all-cause mortality and decreased risk of buprenorphine discontinuation among people receiving buprenorphine.
Indexed as
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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.