ArticleAlzheimer's & dementia (New York, N. Y.)2022
Benzodiazepine use and the risk of dementia.
Article in Alzheimer's & dementia (New York, N. Y.), 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers, 2 of them syntheses 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
16 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 21 citations in OpenAlex.
- Use of Drugs Affecting GABAMolecular neurobiology · 2025Pooled it
- Dementia and Sleep Disorders: The Effects of Drug Therapy in a Systematic Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Pooled it
- Exposome influences: a multi-omics perspective on the combined toxic effects of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in Alzheimer's disease.Frontiers in toxicology · 2026Review
- Lifetime burden of prescription medication for insomnia in middle-aged and older adults in the US: a microsimulation study.Lancet regional health. Americas · 2025Article
- Medication Exposure and Risk of Dementia and Alzheimer's Disease.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Review
- Optimising the use of electronic medical records for large scale research in psychiatry.Translational psychiatry · 2024Review
- Association Between Hypnotics and Dementia: A Mini Narrative Review.Psychiatry investigation · 2024Article
- Benzodiazepine use and risk of incident MCI and dementia in a community sample.International psychogeriatrics · 2024Article
- Alzheimer's disease: a comprehensive review of epidemiology, risk factors, symptoms diagnosis, management, caregiving, advanced treatments and associated challenges.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Review
- Associations of sleep disorders with all-cause MCI/dementia and different types of dementia - clinical evidence, potential pathomechanisms and treatment options: A narrative review.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2024Review
- Benzodiazepine Use and the Risk of Dementia in the Elderly Population: An Umbrella Review of Meta-Analyses.Journal of personalized medicine · 2023Review
- Benzodiazepine-Receptor Agonist Utilization in Outpatients with Anxiety Disorder: A Retrospective Study Based on Electronic Healthcare Data from a Large General Tertiary Hospital.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Benzodiazepines in Alzheimer's disease: beneficial or detrimental effects.Inflammopharmacology · 2023Review
- Understanding neuropsychiatric symptoms in Alzheimer's disease: challenges and advances in diagnosis and treatment.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Review
- Benzodiazepine use and the risk of dementia.Alzheimer's & dementia (New York, N. Y.) · 2022Article
- Association of Combined Marijuana and Opioid Use with Major Depressive Disorder Among Adults with Chronic Conditions in the United States.Substance use : research and treatmentArticle
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Introduction: Benzodiazepines (BZDs) are commonly prescribed for anxiety and agitations, which are early symptoms of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). It is unclear whether BZDs causally affect ADRD risk or are prescribed in response to early symptoms of dementia. Methods: We replicate prior case-control studies using longitudinal Medicare claims. To mitigate bias from prodromal use, we compare rates of ADRD diagnosis for beneficiaries exposed and unexposed to BZDs for cervical/lumbar pain, stenosis, and sciatica, none of which are associated with dementia. Results: Approximately 8% of Medicare beneficiaries used a BZD in 2007, increasing to nearly 13% by 2013. Estimates from case-control designs are sensitive to duration of look-back period, health histories, medication use, and exclusion of decedents. Incident BZD use is not associated with an increased risk of dementia in an "uncontaminated" sample of beneficiaries prescribed a BZD for pain (odds ratios (ORs) of 1.007 [95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.885, 1.146] and 0.986 [95% CI = 0.877, 1.108], respectively, in the 2013 and 2013 to 2015 pooled samples). Higher levels of BZD exposure (>365 days over a 2-year period) are associated with increased odds of a dementia diagnosis, but the results are not statistically significant at the 5% or 10% levels (1.190 [95% CI = 0.925, 1.531] and 1.167 [95% CI = 0.919, 1.483]). Discussion: We find little evidence of a causal relation between BZD use and dementia risk. Nonetheless, providers should limit the extended use in elderly populations.
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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.