THURSDAY, Oct. 17, 2024 (HealthDay News) — From 2013 to 2021, there was a decline in benzodiazepine initiation for post-acute ischemic stroke (AIS), according to a study published online Oct. 17 in Stroke.

Victor Lomachinsky Torres, M.D., from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and colleagues analyzed a 20 percent sample of U.S. Medicare claims from April 1, 2013, to Sept. 30, 2021, to examine prescription patterns of benzodiazepines at the national level. Beneficiaries aged 65 years or older discharged alive following an AIS who had traditional Medicare coverage and six months of prior enrollment in Parts A, B, and D were included. Data were analyzed for 126,050 beneficiaries (mean age, 78 years).

The researchers found that 4.9 percent of beneficiaries initiated a benzodiazepine within 90 days. Lorazepam and alprazolam were the most prescribed new prescriptions (40 and 33 percent, respectively). Overall, 76 and 55 percent of first fills had a day’s supply over seven days and between 15 and 30 days, respectively. Initiation rates were higher for women than men (5.5 and 3.8 percent, respectively). Rates were highest in the Southeast (5.1 percent) and lowest in the Midwest (4.0 percent). From 2013 to 2021, there was a modest nationwide decline in initiation (cumulative incidence difference, 1.6 percent).

“Despite an overall downward trend of benzodiazepine initiation among AIS survivors, we noted a concerning possible overuse pattern of benzodiazepine prescriptions dispensed to patients within 90 days of discharge,” the authors write.

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