FDA Requires Boxed Warning Update for Benzodiazepines
Benzodiazepines are widely used to treat a variety of conditions including anxiety disorders, insomnia and seizures.
Benzodiazepines are widely used to treat a variety of conditions including anxiety disorders, insomnia and seizures.
Disparities in access to controlled medications, including opioids, along racial/ethnic and income lines were found to parallel the rate of opioid-related overdoses in California.
Curtailing prescription opioid use has led to an increase in prescribing benzodiazepines to manage pain.
Patients with non-cancer back or neck pain who use vs do not use tobacco may be more likely to be concurrently prescribed opioid analgesics with muscle relaxants and/or benzodiazepines.
Alprazolam was found to be the most commonly misused benzodiazepine.
Patients with chronic pain and a history of physical and sexual abuse were found to be more likely to concurrently use benzodiazepine and opioids.
Five-fold increased risk of opioid-related overdose during first 90 days of concurrent use
Legislation that requires prescribers to check Ohio’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program was found to lead to a reduction in the quantity of opioids and benzodiazepines dispensed.
New opioid prescriptions for U.S. adults using benzodiazepines stopped increasing in 2010, although the likelihood of receiving a prescription is still elevated versus the general population.
Hydrolysis of urine before benzodiazepine immunoassay screening and optimization of the immunoassay absorbance cutoff were found to improve the rate of false-negative screening.