ArticleNeuropsychiatric disease and treatment2021
Benzodiazepine and Z-Drug Use in Switzerland: Prevalence, Prescription Patterns and Association with Adverse Healthcare Outcomes.
Article in Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 31 citations in OpenAlex.
- Signals of Venous Thromboembolism Risk from Drug-Drug Interactions Involving Benzodiazepines and Other Sedative Hypnotics: Self-Controlled Case Series Analyses.Clinical drug investigation · 2026Article
- Pathways to chronic benzodiazepine use: a qualitative study of user and professional perspectives.BMC primary care · 2026Article
- Characteristics and comorbidities of patients on opioid agonist therapy in Switzerland: A descriptive analysis of the nationwide SAMMSU cohort.Drug and alcohol dependence reports · 2026Article
- Article
- Challenge of long-term benzodiazepine use in primary care: insights from a real-world cohort study in Catalonia.Family medicine and community health · 2025Article
- Delirium in Neurocritical Care: Uncovering Undisclosed Psychotropic Substance and Medication Use and Stress Exposure by Hair Analysis.Neurocritical care · 2025Article
- GPs' reflections on prescribing addictive hypnotics to older people: a qualitative study.BJGP open · 2024Article
- Last general practitioner consultation during the final month of life: a national medical record review of suicides in Sweden.BMC primary care · 2024Article
- Sedative drug-use in Denmark, 2000 to 2019: a nationwide drug utilization study.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2023Article
- Article
- Counselling for Chronic Insomnia in Swiss Pharmacies: A Survey Study Based on Case Vignettes.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Prescribing Z-drugs in Greece: an analysis of the national prescription database from 2018 to 2021.BMC psychiatry · 2023Article
- Long-term use of benzodiazepines in chronic insomnia: a European perspective.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2023Article
- Article
- Randomly controlled drivers using minimally invasive sampling: assessment of drug prevalence in Western Switzerland over two time periods.BMC public health · 2022Article
- A Need for Benzodiazepine Deprescribing in the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Cohort Study.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Article
- Benzodiazepines: Uses, Dangers, and Clinical Considerations.Neurology international · 2021Review
- Defining Prescription Drug Misuse: A Naturalistic Evaluation of National Survey on Drug Use and Health Data From 2012-2014 to 2015-2017.Journal of addiction medicineArticle
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThis study aimed to give a nationwide comprehensive picture of the prevalence and prescription patterns of benzodiazepines (BZ) and Z-drugs (ZD) in Switzerland and to analyze the association with adverse health care outcomes. PATIENTS AND
methodsA population-based, cross-sectional study was conducted, using a large health insurance database in Switzerland. Records from all adult patients with ≥1 prescription for a benzodiazepine and/or a Z-drug in 2018 were included. We calculated the prevalence of BZ and ZD user (extrapolated to the Swiss general population), the number of prescriptions and the type of provider (among each BZ and ZD only user). Multivariate logistic regression models were performed to estimate the association between drug prescription and the risk of hospitalization in different healthcare settings.
resultsOf a total of 844'692 patients, 95'179 had ≥1 BZ and/or ZD prescription in 2018. The extrapolated one-year prevalence for the general Swiss population was 8.1% for a BZ prescription, 3.5% for a ZD prescription, and 10.5% for a BZ and/or ZD prescription, and continuously increased with age. The majority of the elderly (over 65 years) had ≥1 prescription (BZ: 51.9%; ZD: 56.9%; BZ and/or ZD: 53.5). The proportion of patients with ≥6 prescriptions per year was 23.1% for BZ only user and 35.2% for ZD only user. Most patients had ≥1 prescription from a general practitioner. Regression models showed a higher likelihood to be admitted to acute care, psychiatry, rehabilitation, or nursing home with ≥1 prescription for a benzodiazepine and/or a Z-drug.
conclusionThis study is the first to give a nationwide overview of the current use of benzodiazepines and Z-drugs in Switzerland based on health insurance claims data. The results revealed a remarkably high prevalence among the general Swiss population, especially in older generations. The negative consequences of heavy BZ and ZD use are a crucial public health problem, that should be addressed.
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