ArticlePloS one2025
Long-term neurological consequences following benzodiazepine exposure: A scoping review.
Article in PloS one, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- [Performance-related substance use in everyday life and work].Bundesgesundheitsblatt, Gesundheitsforschung, Gesundheitsschutz · 2026Review
- Pharmacological principles for safe benzodiazepine and Z-drug dose reduction.Psychological medicine · 2026Review
- Toward clarifying ASAM's inpatient and residential benzodiazepine tapering recommendations.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Benzodiazepine (BZD) Use and Patient Safety: Opportunities for Community Pharmacy Involvement in the Management of Drug Interactions.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Benzodiazepine acute withdrawal syndrome is well known, but the long-term neurological consequences of benzodiazepine exposure are much less familiar. A scoping review was conducted of electronic databases for studies that reported on patient outcomes four or more weeks after complete cessation of benzodiazepine use. Forty-six results were retrieved in total, some of which provided signals for protracted symptoms, often reported as incidental findings, and others that showed benzodiazepine discontinuation was beneficial. Some overlap occurred in the outcomes, but these two groups of studies suggest that the benefits of benzodiazepine discontinuation for many patients tended to obscure the more prolonged, severe, and sometimes debilitating symptoms that persisted for months and years in a subpopulation of patients. The prevalence or trajectory of these enduring symptoms could not be determined from these studies. Further elucidation of the potential neurotoxicity of benzodiazepines is needed to better understand protracted symptoms and their treatment. Clinicians, patients, and the healthcare system must be cognizant of the risks of benzodiazepine exposure beyond two to four weeks.
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Registered trials
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