ArticleEuropean journal of clinical pharmacology2021
Impact of changes in controlled drugs legislation on benzodiazepine receptor agonist prescribing in Ireland: a repeated cross-sectional study.
Article in European journal of clinical pharmacology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- Primary Care Prescribing Patterns for Benzodiazepines and Z-Drugs, and Evidence Gaps Concerning Hydroxyzine and Seasonality: A Systematic Review.Clinics and practice · 2026Review
- Psychotropic Drug Scheduling and Benzodiazepine Receptor Agonist Prescribing in Japan: An Interrupted Time Series Analysis.Therapeutic innovation & regulatory science · 2026Article
- Psychosocial risk factors at work and the use of anxiolytics and hypnotics: cross-sectional analysis of salaried workers in Spain.BMJ public health · 2026Article
- Changes in benzodiazepine, z-drug, and other sedative prescribing in primary care in Ireland between 2014 and 2022.Family practice · 2025Article
- Agitated Depression Associated With Flurazepam Discontinuation.Case reports in psychiatry · 2024Article
- Benzodiazepines in complex biological matrices: Recent updates on pretreatment and detection methods.Journal of pharmaceutical analysis · 2023Review
- Observational
- Supporting safe and gradual reduction of long-term benzodiazepine receptor agonist use: Development of the SAFEGUARDING-BZRAs toolkit using a codesign approach.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2022Article
- Applying the intervention Complexity Assessment Tool to brief interventions targeting long-term benzodiazepine receptor agonist use in primary care: Lessons learned.BMC primary care · 2022Article
- 'I just thought that it was such an impossible thing': A qualitative study of barriers and facilitators to discontinuing long-term use of benzodiazepine receptor agonists using the Theoretical Domains Framework.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2022Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
purposeTo examine the impact of new controlled drugs legislation introduced in May 2017 on benzodiazepine receptor agonist (BZRA) prescribing in Ireland.
methodsA repeated cross-sectional analysis was conducted using publically available monthly pharmacy claims data from the General Medical Services (GMS) database. The study population comprised all GMS-eligible individuals aged ≥ 16 years from January 2016 to September 2019. Monthly prevalence rates of individuals receiving BZRA prescriptions per 10,000 eligible population were calculated and trends examined over time. Segmented linear regression of prevalence rates was used to examine changes before and after introduction of the legislation stratified by gender and age groups. Regression coefficients (β) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for monthly change were calculated.
resultsPre-legislation (January 2016 to April 2017), there was a significant monthly decline in benzodiazepine prevalence rate (β = - 1.18; 95% CI - 1.84, - 0.51; p < 0.001) but no significant change in Z-drug prescribing. Post-legislation (May 2017 to September 2019), increases in prevalence rates were observed for benzodiazepines (β = 1.04; 95% CI 0.17, 1.92; p = 0.021) and Z-drugs (β = 1.04; 95% CI 0.26, 1.83; p = 0.010). Post-legislation trends showed increases in BZRA prevalence rates among the youngest subgroup (16-44 years), with variable changes in the middle-aged subgroup (45-64 years) and no changes in the oldest subgroup (≥ 65 years).
conclusionsThis study indicates that introduction of new legislation had limited impact on BZRA prescribing on the main public health scheme in Ireland. Interventions targeting specific population subgroups may be required to achieve sustained reductions in prescribing.
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Registered trials
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