ArticleBMC psychiatry2025
Temporal trends of the utilization patterns of sedative-hypnotic medications in children, adolescents and young adults: a 21-year population-based study with joinpoint regression analysis.
Article in BMC psychiatry, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Psychotropic dispensing in Greek adolescents and young adults: national trends and regional variation.Frontiers in drug safety and regulation · 2026Article
- Global, regional, and national burden of lip and oral cavity cancer and projections to 2036.BMC cancer · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundThere is limited research on real-world utilization patterns of benzodiazepines and Z-drugs (collectively-termed benzodiazepine-receptor agonists [BZRAs]) in children and adolescents, particularly in non-western countries. We aimed to examine temporal trends of BZRA prescribing-practice among children, adolescents and young adults in Hong Kong over a 21-year period.
methodsThis population-based study identified 60,660 individuals aged 4-24 years who had redeemed ≥ 1 BZRA prescription within 2000-2020, using data from medical-record database of Hong Kong public-healthcare-services. We calculated annual prescription prevalence (per 1,000 persons per year) for any BZRA, BZRA-subtypes (short- and long-acting benzodiazepines, Z-drugs) and individual BZRAs. Joinpoint-regression analyses were performed to assess temporal BZRA prescription trends, quantified by average annual-percent-change (AAPC), with 95% confidence-intervals (CIs).
resultsOverall BZRA prescription prevalence significantly increased (AAPC: 5.70% [95%CI: 5.31-6.54%]), from 1.88 in 2000 to 5.69 in 2020, uniformly across both sexes. Young adults (18-24 years-old) displayed the highest prescription prevalence, followed by adolescents (12-17 years-old) and children (4-11 years-old). Young adults and adolescents exhibited more pronounced increased BZRA use than children. Use of all BZRA subtypes consistently increased over time for all age-groups, except decline in Z-drug prescriptions in children. Lorazepam and diazepam represented the two most frequently-prescribed individual BZRAs, whereas alprazolam use showed the steepest increase. Anxiety and depression emerged as the most commonly-assigned diagnoses for BZRA-users.
conclusionThis first Asian population-based study indicates a significant rising trend of BZRA prescriptions, especially among adolescents and young adults. Judicious prescribing-practices and further investigation clarifying factors contributing to increased BZRA use are warranted.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.