Work accident effect on the use of psychotropic drugs: the case of benzodiazepines

A work accident constitutes a shock to health, likely to alter mental states and affect the use of psychotropic drugs. We focus on the use of benzodiazepines, which are a class of drugs commonly used to treat anxiety and insomnia. Prolonged use can lead to dependence. Our objective is to determine the extent to which work accidents lead to benzodiazepine use and overuse (i.e. exceedance of medical guidelines).

We use a two-step selection model (the Heckman method) based on data from the French National Health Data System (Système National des Données de Santé, SNDS). Our study sample includes all general plan members who experienced a single work accident in 2016 (and not since 2007). This sample includes 350,000 individuals in the work accident group and more than 1.1 million people randomly drawn from the population without work accidents from 2007 to 2017 (the non-work accident group).

The occurrence of a work accident leads to an increase in benzodiazepine use and overuse the following year. The selection model shows a clear influence of the accident on the use probability (+ 39%), but a very slight impact on the risk of overuse among users (+ 1.7%), once considered the selection effect. The effect on overuse risk is higher for more severe accidents and among women.

The increase in the risk of benzodiazepine overuse is due to an increase in the likelihood of using benzodiazepines after a work accident that leads to overuse, rather than an increase in likelihood of overuse among people who use benzodiazepines. Results call for targeting the first-time prescription to limit the risk of overuse after a work accident.