INTRODUCTION Benzodiazepines are among the most prescribed drugs for anxiety and one of the most used drug classes in the world and have a high potential for addiction. The objective of this study was to assess levels of dependence and anxiety among users of these drugs in the public health system. METHODS This was a cross-sectional, descriptive and quantitative study. Benzodiazepine users tr...

Drug development involves the chemical identification and characterization of a compound to determine stability and define the drug's preliminary actions. Preclinical research follows in animals to develop a pharmacokinetic profile to determine dose range, biotransformation, elimination, and toxicology. The 4 phases of clinical research, phase 1 to phase 4, encompass a progressive investigation...

disorders, as adjuvant therapy in patients with depression and as muscle relaxants. Although these drugs are considered effective and safe in the short term, their long-term use is associated with adverse health outcomes, including tolerance and dependence, increased risk of motor vehicle accidents, falls and hip fractures in the elderly, and cognitive and memory impairment. More recently, long...

The synthesis of new 3-heteroaryl-8-chloropyrazolo[5,1-c][1,2, 4]benzotriazine 5-oxides and their binding activities at the central benzodiazepine receptor (BZR) are reported. The derivatives substituted at the 3-position with electron-rich five-membered rings, such as pyrrole 11, 2-thiophene 13c, or 3-thiophene 13d, showed good affinity values for BZR. In in vivo tests the 3-(thien-3-yl)-8-chl...

BACKGROUND We conducted a study using a case-crossover design to clarify the risk of acute effects of zolpidem and benzodiazepine on all-sites of fractures in the elderly. DESIGN OF STUDY Case-crossover design. METHODS AND MATERIALS Elderly enrollees (n = 6010) in Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database with zolpidem or benzodiazepine use were analyzed for the risk of developin...

PURPOSE To evaluate the effectiveness and tolerability of pregabalin in the management of the discontinuation of benzodiazepines in long-term users. SUBJECTS AND METHODS We performed a 12-week, prospective, uncontrolled, non-interventional, and observational study in patients aged 18 years old or above, who met DSM-IV-TR criteria for benzodiazepine dependence without other major psychiatry di...

OBJECTIVES Investigate the acceptability of financial incentives for initiating a medically supervised benzodiazepine discontinuation programme among people with long-term benzodiazepine use and to identify programme features that influence willingness to participate. METHODS We conducted a discrete choice experiment in which we presented a variety of incentive-based programs to a sample of o...

BACKGROUND Benzodiazepines are commonly prescribed in residential aged care facilities (RACFs) for their sedative and anxiolytic effects. The objective of this study was to investigate the association between benzodiazepine use and sleep quality in residents of RACFs. METHODS A cross-sectional study involving 383 participants was conducted in six Australian RACFs. Night-time sleep quality, da...