Trends in prescribing of sedative-hypnotic medications in the USA: 1993-2010.

ABSTRACT: Non-benzodiazepine receptor agonists (nBZRAs) were developed as an alternative to benzodiazepines (BZDs) to treat insomnia. Little is known about how the introduction of nBZRAs influenced trends in BZD prescribing. We examined BZD and nBZRA prescribing trends from 1993 to 2010.We used the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey to examine 516,118 patient visits between 1993 and 2010. We categorized visits as BZD, nBZRA, or BZD?+?nBZRA visits based on medications prescribed in each visit and applied linear probability regression models to assess trends in visits.Increases were observed in proportions of visits that were BZD (2.6% in 1993 to 4.4% in 2010, p?

SUBMITTER: Kaufmann CN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4889508 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature