ArticleJournal of substance abuse treatment2021
"It could potentially be dangerous... but nothing else has seemed to help me.": Patient and clinician perspectives on benzodiazepine use in opioid agonist treatment.
Article in Journal of substance abuse treatment, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Evidence-based consensus guidelines for the pharmacological management of substance dependence: Recommendations from the British Association for Psychopharmacology.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2026Guideline
- Benzodiazepine Use Among Patients Receiving Methadone Maintenance Treatment: A Descriptive Study.Drug design, development and therapy · 2026Article
- A qualitative study of benzodiazepine/z-drug and opioid co-use patterns and overdose risk.Harm reduction journal · 2025Article
- A Mixed-Methods Study of Motives for Benzodiazepine Misuse Among Adults Receiving Substance Use Disorder Treatment.Substance use & misuse · 2025Article
- Benzodiazepine Use Among Individuals with Opioid Use Disorder: A Narrative Review.Substance abuse and rehabilitation · 2025Review
- Benzodiazepine use, quality of life and psychiatric symptom burden in oral and injectable opioid agonist treatment: a cross-sectional study.Addiction science & clinical practice · 2023Article
- Drug use patterns and factors related to the use and discontinuation of medications for opioid use disorder in the age of fentanyl: findings from a mixed-methods study of people who use drugs.Substance abuse treatment, prevention, and policy · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundBenzodiazepine use among patients receiving opioid agonist treatment (OAT) presents a conundrum: benzodiazepines increase overdose risk, yet can treat anxiety and insomnia. How best to balance the risks and benefits of benzodiazepines among OAT patients is unclear. Using qualitative methods, we examined patient motivations for benzodiazepine use and understanding of risks, and the context in which benzodiazepine use and prescribing occurs.
methodsWe conducted semi-structured interviews with 26 OAT patients using benzodiazepines and 10 OAT clinicians. Participants were recruited from an office-based buprenorphine clinic at an academic medical center and a methadone opioid treatment program using purposive sampling. The study team reviewed transcripts and double-coded 100% of interviews. Data analysis combined both deductive and inductive methods.
resultsMajor emergent themes were: 1) patients focus on benefits over risks of benzodiazepines, 2) patients can learn to use benzodiazepines safely, 3) patients want to use benzodiazepines now but discontinue in the future, 4) clinicians and patients weigh the risks and benefits of benzodiazepine use differently, 5) clinicians and patient have differences in treatment goals, and 6) clinicians struggle with benzodiazepine discontinuation.
conclusionsOAT patients and clinicians can weigh the risks and benefits of benzodiazepines differently leading to a difference in treatment goals. The risk-benefit analysis of benzodiazepine prescribing may depend on whether the patient is engaged in opioid treatment. Future work among patients and clinicians is warranted to determine how to better balance patient and clinician priorities in order to deliver safer prescribing practices and maintain patient engagement in care.
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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.