Do you know the benzodiazepines ? These drugs from the family of anxiolytics (which have been on the market since the 1960s) act on the central nervous system: they are prescribed in cases of anxiety, alcohol withdrawal,insomnia, anxiety attacks… even Alzheimer’s disease! In terms of figures, experts estimate that each year, 1 in 5 French people consume benzodiazepines: the median age of patients is 55, and 67% of users are women.
Problem: Benzodiazepines (i.e. alprazolam (Xanax), bromazepam (Lexomil), clobazam (Urbanyl), clorazepate (Tranxene), clotiazepam (Veratran), diazepam (Valium), loflazepate (Victan), lorazepam (Temesta), nordazepam (Nordaz), oxazepam (Seresta), prazepam (Lysanxia) and their generics) have been very controversial in recent years. Among other things, they would be responsible for addictions, memory and alertness disorders…
More common hip fractures
But according to a new study from the University of Eastern Finland (in Finland), benzodiazepines are also responsible for bone fractures in people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. To reach this conclusion, the researchers worked from medical data on 70,718 Finns suffering from Alzheimer’s diseasecollected between 2005 and 2011.
Conclusion ? The scientists found that in patients who regularly used benzodiazepines (21% of the panel), the risk of hip fracture was +43% compared to the average. More generally, these people suffered about 2.5 fractures per year, compared to 1.4 fractures per year in patients who did not use anxiolytics: in fact, benzodiazepines can also cause psychomotor disorders, and therefore falls. . And the risk was even higher if the treatment lasted more than 6 months. In short, in case of neurological disease, it is better to avoid anxiolytics…
This work has been published in the specialized journal Journal of the American Medical Directors Association.
To read :
The risk of dementia increased by taking benzodiazepines
Sleeping pills: benzodiazepines less well reimbursed
