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Updated: Apr 13, 2026

Controlled Cortical Impact Model for Traumatic Brain Injury
Published on: August 5, 2014
Higher-dose uses of zolpidem will increase the subsequent risk of developing benign brain tumors
Tomor Harnod1, Yu-Fen Li, Cheng-Li Lin
1From the Dept. of Neurosurgery, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, Hualien, Taiwan (TH); the College of Medicine, Tzu Chi University, Hualien, Taiwan (TH); the Institute of Biostatistics, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan (Y-FL); the Management Office for Health Data, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan (C-LL, S-NC, F-CS); the Dept. of Nuclear Medicine and PET Center, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan (C-HK); and the Graduate Institute of Clinical Medical Science and School of Medicine, College of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan (F-CS, C-HK).
Abstract:
This study identified 37,810 patients with anxiety or sleep disorder (mean age=53.2 years, SD=16.0 years) who had zolpidem prescribed for at least 2 months from January 1, 2000 through December 31, 2009. Another non-zolpidem cohort was selected by 1:1 matching with the zolpidem cohort on the estimated probability (propensity score) of being treated. The zolpidem cohort had a higher incidence of benign brain tumors compared with the non-zolpidem cohort, particularly for elderly patients. The matched propensity score analysis showed that the highest risk of benign brain tumors occurred in participants with zolpidem exposure ≥520 mg/year (hazard ratio=1.85, 95% confidence interval=1.21-2.82) compared with those not taking zolpidem.
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