Benzodiazepines are used to treat epilepsy, anxiety, and insomnia. Due to their frequent use, they pose a high risk of developing side effects, addiction and tolerance, especially among the elderly. Zolpidem and quetiapine are also often prescribed to treat insomnia.
Our study aims to evaluate the prescribing patterns of benzodiazepines, zolpidem, and quetiapine in Slovenia. We determined the usage of benzodiazepines (number of prescriptions and diazepine equivalent doses), the characteristics of the doctors prescribing the selected medicine and the recipients of that specific medicine, as well as the prevalence and incidence rate of those recipients. Due to the very wide use of benzodiazepines, the study focused on those acting as hypnotics and sedatives, as well as zolpidem and 25 mg quetiapine.
We used the database of anonymized data on prescription medicines dispensed, which is owned by the Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia. IBM SPSS Statistics 25.0 was used to process the data. We focused on the dispensing of medicines in the period from 2010 to 2019 and excluded minors from the analysis.
The results of the quantitative analysis show that the trend in prescribing benzodiazepines, zolpidem, and 25 mg quetiapine is decreasing, with the number of prescriptions from 2010 to 2019 falling from 743.703 to 616.142, a decrease of 17.2 %. Zolpidem, alprazolam, and bromazepam were the most frequently prescribed. The sum of diazepam equivalent doses (5 mg daily) decreased from 64.071.189 to 47.813.170 equivalents from 2010 to 2019, i.e. by 25.4 %. For almost all active substances, except for quetiapine, the sum is decreasing.
Selected active substances were administered to 13.1 % of Slovenian adult population in 2010. By the end of 2019, this percentage had declined to 11.1 %. In general, the ratio of female to male patients each year is approximately 2:1, with prescription increasing with age.
In 2012 and 2017, 55.791 and 52.543 people, respectively, received selected active substances for the first time, which amounts to a decrease of 5.8%. In both years, most patients begin treatment with alprazolam, bromazepam or zolpidem. At the start of the treatment one packet of the drug is usually prescribed, which is sufficient for one month of use.
Average prescriptions per doctor increase with the age of physicians. Every year, the average number of prescriptions, prescribed by female doctor is approximately 20-30 % higher.
Use of the studied active substances is still widespread in Slovenia, but it has decreased between 2010 and 2019, both in terms of the number of prescriptions and the number of diazepam-equivalent doses. Only prescribing quetiapine increases. The frequency of prescribing is higher in elderly and female patients and by older physicians (especially female doctors).
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