[Use of benzodiazepines at a general hospital]

Anxiety and insomnia are frequent troubles among hospitalized patients and are often related to the underlying diseases, their diagnosis and treatment or to other conditions of the hospital environment. The primary therapeutic strategy consists of modifying such circumstances. Benzodiazepines may be useful in some patients but patterns of hospital use have been scarcely evaluated. We have studied the use of benzodiazepines in medical and surgical departments of our hospital for a 2-month period. From a total of 754 admitted patients, 116 (15.4%) received benzodiazepines orally, presumably for anxiety and insomnia. The proportion of treated patients differed remarkably oscillating between 4% and 58%. Mean daily doses of benzodiazepines were lower than defined daily doses. The schedules were remarkably rigid: 1) in none of the cases the initial dose nor therapeutic schedule were changed, 2) in most cases, schedules in the elderly were the same as in younger patients, and 3) in 80% of cases, the treatment was maintained till the patient was discharged. The present study emphasizes the necessity to modify overall strategy of the use of benzodiazepines.