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[81] [82] Concerns regarding the long-term effects of benzodiazepines have been raised since 1980. [83] These concerns are still not fully answered. A review in 2006 of the literature on use of benzodiazepine and nonbenzodiazepine hypnotics concluded that more research is needed to evaluate the long-term effects of hypnotic drugs. [84]
This can lead to excessive contact with their doctor. Research has found that withdrawing elderly people from benzodiazepines leads to a significant reduction in doctor visits per year, it is presumed, due to an elimination of drug side-effects and withdrawal effects. [10]
Abuse of benzodiazepines occurs in a wide age range of people and includes teenagers and the old. The abuse potential or drug-liking effects appears to be dose related, with low doses of benzodiazepines having limited drug liking effects but higher doses increasing the abuse potential/drug-liking properties. [22]
Younger people on benzodiazepines also experience cognitive deterioration in visual-spatial memory but are not as vulnerable as the elderly to the cognitive effects. [136] Improved reaction times were noted at 52 weeks in elderly patients free from benzodiazepines.
Long-acting benzodiazepines such as clonazepam are not generally recommended for the elderly due to the risk of drug accumulation. [10] The elderly are especially susceptible to increased risk of harm from motor impairments and drug accumulation side effects. Benzodiazepines also require special precaution if used by individuals that may be ...
Nitrazepam, sold under the brand name Mogadon among others, [2] [3] is a hypnotic drug of the benzodiazepine class used for short-term relief from severe, disabling anxiety and insomnia. [4] It also has sedative (calming) properties, [5] as well as amnestic (inducing forgetfulness), anticonvulsant, and skeletal muscle relaxant effects.
The success of gradual-tapering benzodiazepines is as great in the elderly as in younger people. Benzodiazepines should be prescribed to the elderly only with caution and only for a short period at low doses. [94] [95] Short to intermediate-acting benzodiazepines are preferred in the elderly such as oxazepam and temazepam.
Nordazepam is among the longest lasting (longest half-life) benzodiazepines, and its occurrence as a metabolite is responsible for most cumulative side-effects of its myriad of pro-drugs when they are used repeatedly at moderate-high doses; the nordazepam metabolite oxazepam is also active (and is a more potent, full BZD-site agonist), which ...