[The Risks of Perioperative Addiction to Benzodiazepines in the Elderly: What the Surgeon Needs to Know]

In Germany, more than one million people use benzodiazepines on a regular basis. The majority of them is older than 60 years and take low-dose benzodiazepines for sleep disorders. This does not necessarily induce tolerance, but may result in problems such as falling, seizures or delirium if benzodiazepines are discontinued or taken on a long-term basis. Therefore, benzodiazepines can be associated with problems before, during and after surgery, in particular in the elderly. This narrative review aims to describe the clinical relevance for daily practice.

1. The high-dose use of drugs that induce addiction with possible parallel consumption of other drugs is clinically important. Even more relevant, however, is the large number of elderly people taking benzodiazepines periodically and in low doses for sleep disturbances. 2. Low-dose addiction of benzodiazepines is defined as daily use of less than 20 mg of a diazepam equivalent. 3. Short-acting benzodiazepines can promote addiction; long-acting benzodiazepines produce hangover effects. 4. During a hospital stay, rapid discontinuation induces withdrawal symptoms; continuous prescription may result in incidents and increases the risk of postoperative delirium.

For the intake and continuous prescription there are four basic rules:Well-defined indication, correct dosage, short application, no sudden discontinuation.