Pandemic onset stalled reduction of benzodiazepine use among older Americans, says study

Years of progress in reducing benzodiazepine prescribing among older Americans stalled after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a decade-long national study from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and Columbia University Irving Medical Center.

Although benzodiazepine prescribing declined steadily before 2020 and remained below 2015 levels, those reductions leveled off after the pandemic began.

Prescribing increased among adults age 75 or older and among patients receiving medications through long-term care pharmacies.

The findings are published in Annals of Internal Medicine. ...