Prescribing Z-drugs in Greece: an analysis of the national prescription database from 2018 to 2021

BMC Psychiatry

Research

Konstantinos N. Fountoulakis¹  Vasileios Fragkidis²  Georgios Papazisis³  Spyridon Siafis⁴ 

[1] 3rd Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece;Department of Clinical Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece;Department of Clinical Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece;Clinical Research Unit, Special Unit for Biomedical Research and Education, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece;Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany;Department of Clinical Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki, Greece;

关键词: Sleep disorders;    Pharmacoepidemiology;    Z-drugs;    Zolpidem;    Zopiclone;    Greece;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12888-023-04793-x

 received in 2022-11-03, accepted in 2023-04-18,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe Z-drugs are indicated for the short-treatment of insomnia, but they are associated with abuse, dependence and side-effects. There are only sparse data about Z-drug prescribing in Greece.MethodsWe analyzed data from the Greek prescription database, considering prescriptions for the available Z-drugs in Greece, i.e., zolpidem and zopiclone, during the period from 01.10.2018 to 01.10.2021 in order to examine the prevalence, monthly number and characteristics of Z-drug prescriptions in Greece.ResultsThere were 1,229,842 prescriptions for Z-drugs (zolpidem: 89.7%) during the investigated period from 2018 to 2021, which corresponded to 156,554 patients (73.1% ≥ 65 years, 64.5% female). More than half of the patients (65.8%) had more than one prescription with a median number of 8, interquartile range IQR [3, 17], prescriptions during the three-year study period. Most patients (76.1%) were prescribed by medical specialties other than psychiatrists and neurologists, despite a considerable frequency of psychiatric comorbidities (53.7%). About half of patients with anxiety/depression were not prescribed anxiolytics or antidepressants, a practice more frequently observed among medical specialties other than psychiatrists and neurologists. The average annual prevalence of at least one prescription for Z-drugs in the Greek population during 2019–2020 was approximately 0.9% (higher in females and older adults). The monthly number of prescriptions was relatively stable with a median number of 334.2 IQR [310.4; 351.6] prescriptions per 100,000 persons.ConclusionsA considerable number of patients are prescribed Z-drugs in Greece, more often older adults, females and patients with psychiatric comorbidities. The prescribing physicians were in the majority (70%) internists and general practitioners, while psychiatrists (10.9%) and neurologists (6.1%) accounted for a smaller proportion. Due to the limitations inherent to medical claims databases, further research is warranted in order to elucidate the potential abuse and misuse of Z-drugs.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2023

【 图 表 】

Fig. 2

Fig. 1