IQ -- Too Much Valium?

Moderating Benzodiazepine Use in the Elderly published in the October, 1992 issue of the Canadian Family Physician had this to say about the amount of "sedative-hypnotic medications" taken:

In 1988, residents of Quebec aged 65 years and older received 2.7 million prescriptions for sedative-hypnotic medications. These prescriptions cost more than $25 million to fill and represented almost 10% of all medications prescribed to this group and paid for by the provincial health insurance plan.¹ Out of an approximate population of 600,000 aged 65 years and older in Quebec, the average number of prescriptions per year per elderly person is 4.5.² This high rate of benzodiazepine use is not unique to Quebec. A review of the literature reveals concern about this phenomenon in other parts of Canada,^3,4 the United States,⁵ Britain⁶ and Europe.⁷ The World Health Organization has identified excessive benzodiazepine use as a global problem.⁸

Most would agree that the abuse of prescription drugs has long been a problem, particularly in the Western world. It is encouraging to see the scientific community and the World Health Organization (WHO) focus on this issue.

References

1. Regie de l'assurance-maladie du Quebec. Regie de l assurance-maladie: statistiques annuelles 1988.

    

2. Statistics Canada. Recensement 1986. Ottawa, Ont: Statistics Canada; 1986: Catalogue No. 92-113.

    

3. Sketris IS, MacCara ME, Purkis IE, Curry LZ: Is there a problem with benzodiazepine prescribing in Maritime Canada? Can Fam Physician 1985;31:1591-6.

    

4. Busto U, Lanctot KL, Isaac P, Adrian M: Benzodiazepine use and abuse in Canada. Can Med Assoc J 1989;141:917-21.

    

5. Laux G, Puryear DA: Benzodiazepines-misuse, abuse and dependency. Am Fam Physician 1984;3:139-47.

    

6. Tyrer P: Risks of dependence on benzodiazepine drugs: the importance of patient selection. BMJ 1989;298:102-5.

    

7. Balter MB, Levine J, Manheimer DI: Cross-national study of the extent of anti-anxiety sedative drug use. N Engl J Med 1974;290:769-74.

    

8. Ghodse H, Khan I, editors: Psychoactive drugs: improving prescribing practices. Geneva, Switz: World Health Organization, 1988.