ArticleFrontiers in psychiatry2023
Long-term use of benzodiazepines in chronic insomnia: a European perspective.
Article in Frontiers in psychiatry, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 43 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
43 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 81 citations in OpenAlex.
- Risks Associated With Benzodiazepine Long-Term Use in Chronic Insomnia: A Systematic Review and (Network) Meta-Analysis.Journal of sleep research · 2026Pooled it
- Electrical vestibular nerve stimulation as a novel therapeutic approach for insomnia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Evidence-based consensus guidelines for the pharmacological management of substance dependence: Recommendations from the British Association for Psychopharmacology.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2026Guideline
- Dementia and Sleep Disorders: The Effects of Drug Therapy in a Systematic Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Pooled it
- Trial
- Tilia Tomentosa promotes sleep, preserving sleep structure.Npj biological timing and sleep · 2026Article
- Initiation of High-Potency Benzodiazepine Prescriptions Among Survivors of Severe Trauma.Acta anaesthesiologica Scandinavica · 2026Article
- Insomnia Severity in Psychiatric Outpatients: Real-World Insomnia Severity Index Data from an Italian Community Mental Health Center.Brain sciences · 2026Article
- Insomnia and Its Therapeutic Approaches Among University Students in Madrid.Current therapeutic research, clinical and experimental · 2026Article
- Comparative effects of diazepam administration and chronic sleep deprivation on cognitive function and biochemical markers in rats.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Patterns of psychotropic drug dispensation in Portugal amidst the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Sedative effects of physcion and its modulatory interaction with diazepam: in vivo and in silico evaluation.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2026Article
- Developing a structured framework to explore the experiences of people with dementia and their caregivers regarding non-pharmacological sleep interventions.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Article
- Longan flower water extract promotes sleep in mice via the serotonin-melatonin axis.Journal of the science of food and agriculture · 2026Article
- Sleep Complaints in the Psychiatric Hospital: A Qualitative Study of Nurses and Psychiatrists' Approaches to Sleep Management in a Swiss Psychiatric Hospital.Clocks & sleep · 2026Article
- Epidemiological Assessment of Benzodiazepine Dependence via Pharmacist-Led EMR Review in Pain and Palliative Care Institution.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Physical factor therapies for insomnia: a narrative review of mechanisms, clinical evidence, and phenotype-guided applications.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Review
- Optimizing Benzodiazepine Use for Chronic Insomnia: Insights from a Delphi Expert Consensus Study.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2026Article
- Insomnia Pathogenesis and Multidimensional Mechanisms of Acupuncture: A Narrative Review.International journal of general medicine · 2026Review
- An exploratory randomized controlled trial protocol evaluating Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia with adjunct Ayurvedic external therapies (Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Chronic insomnia occurs in ~10% of the general population and has numerous negative health effects. The recommended first line treatment of cognitive behavior therapy for insomnia is not widely available for patients in Europe, so pharmacotherapies such as benzodiazepine receptor agonist agents (benzodiazepines and Z-drugs) are commonly used. However, their use is only recommended for ≤4 weeks due to unproven long-term efficacy in treatment of chronic insomnia, and the risk of tolerance, and the potential for dependence and misuse. In Europe, recommendations limiting the use of benzodiazepines (lowest dose and shortest duration) in chronic insomnia are not always followed, likely due to the lack of approved effective alternative therapies. Here we present a recent pilot survey of the pharmacological treatment landscape in chronic insomnia in five European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom) and physicians' attitude toward treatment. The results suggest that benzodiazepines and Z-drugs are the most widely used treatments in chronic insomnia and are being used for longer than their recommended duration. Country variations in prescription rates were observed. Due to the known association between long-term benzodiazepine use and potential for developing dependence, further analysis of the literature was performed on the use and misuse of benzodiazepines. The results show that long-term use of benzodiazepines is associated with multiple consequences of treatment, including dependence, but also that previous use of benzodiazepines may increase the risk of opioid use disorder.
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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.