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Health risk appraisal in older people 7: long-acting benzodiazepine use in community-dwelling older adults in London: is it related to physical or psychological factors?

Chatterjee, D; Iliffe, S; Kharicha, K; Harari, D; Swift, C; Gillman, G; Stuck, AE; (2017) Health risk appraisal in older people 7: long-acting benzodiazepine use in community-dwelling older adults in London: is it related to physical or psychological factors? Primary Health Care Research & Development , 18 (3) pp. 253-260. 10.1017/S1463423617000068. Green open access

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Abstract

To investigate whether the use of long-acting benzodiazepines, in individuals aged 65 and over is mediated by physical or psychological factors. Long-acting benzodiazepine consumption among older people has implications for mortality, morbidity and cost-effective prescribing. Two models explain benzodiazepine use in this age group, one linked to physical illness and disability and one to psychological factors. Secondary analysis of baseline data from a study of 1059 community-dwelling non-disabled people aged 65 years and over recruited from three general practices in London. For this analysis, use of long-acting benzodiazepines was defined as any self-reported use of diazepam or nitrazepam in the last four weeks. Associations between demographic factors, health service use, and physical and psychological characteristics and benzodiazepine use were investigated. The prevalence of benzodiazepine use in this sample was 3.3% (35/1059). In univariate analyses, benzodiazepine use was associated with female gender, low income, high consultation rates, physical factors (medication for arthritis or joint pain, polypharmacy, difficulties in instrumental activities of daily living, recent pain) and psychological factors (poor self-perceived health, social isolation, and symptoms of anxiety or agitation). In a multivariate logistic regression analysis only two factors retained statistically significant independent associations with benzodiazepine use: receiving only the state pension (OR=4.0, 95% CI: 1.70, 9.80) and pain in the past four weeks (OR=3.79, 95% CI: 1.36, 10.54).

Type: Article
Title: Health risk appraisal in older people 7: long-acting benzodiazepine use in community-dwelling older adults in London: is it related to physical or psychological factors?
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1017/S1463423617000068
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1463423617000068
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the author accepted manuscript. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher’s terms and conditions.
Keywords: older people; benzodiazepines; pain; depression
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Population Health Sciences > Institute of Epidemiology and Health > Primary Care and Population Health
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1543764
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