[Mortality in patients with acute respiratory failure on chronic treatment with benzodiazepines]

The benzodiazepines (BZD) are among the drugs most used by the population. Its contraindications include severe respiratory failure and sleep apnoea. The main objective of this work was to establish the relationship between the chronic use of benzodiazepines and hospital mortality and up to 30 days after admission. This study was carried out on a retrospective cohort of 243 patients admitted via emergency room into «Reina Sofia» University General Hospital in Murcia during the year 2011, and were selected for having been treated with non-invasive mechanical ventilation (NIV) during their admission. The method used was a review of clinical histories by searching for the code corresponding to the NIV process. Overall mortality was 20.6%. In patients with chronic consumption of BZD it was 22.45% and 19.4% in patients who did not use these drugs (P=.608). We were unable to establish a significant relationship between chronic use of benzodiazepines and overall mortality figures. On the other hand, we have linked the increased mortality in patients treated with NIV for acute respiratory failure with other indicators such as, age above 75 years old, blood bicarbonate below 22mmol/L; lactic acid higher than 2mmol/L; serum creatinine above 1.5mg/dL, and sepsis.