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Dispensing of benzodiazepines and benzodiazepine-related drugs to pregnant women: a population-based cohort study

  • Pharmacoepidemiology and Prescription
  • Published:
European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

The study aimed to describe the dispensing of benzodiazepines and benzodiazepine-related drugs (z-hypnotics) to pregnant women and to study the characteristics of these women and the extent of co-medication.

Methods

A population-based cohort study was conducted based on the linkage of nationwide registries: the Medical Birth Registry of Norway and the Norwegian Prescription Database. The data covers dispensed drugs to women 3 months prior to, during and after pregnancy. The study population consisted of 345,703 singleton pregnancies during a period starting 1 April 2004 or later and ending before 1 January 2011.

Results

In 5,135 (1.5 %) of the pregnancies, the women were dispensed a benzodiazepine or z-hypnotic at least once. Of these, 68.5 % filled just one prescription for the duration of the pregnancy. Prevalence was lower in pregnancy than before and after pregnancy. The median total amount of benzodiazepines and/or z-hypnotics dispensed during pregnancy was 15 defined daily doses (DDDs), while the 25 % receiving the largest amounts got 40 DDDs or more. Five hundred eleven women, the 10 % that were prescribed the largest amounts during pregnancy, received a median amount of 220 DDDs. Women receiving these drugs were older, more often smokers, without a partner and suffering from chronic disease. Of the medicated pregnant women, 19.6 % and 19.3 % were also prescribed an opioid and antidepressant, respectively.

Conclusions

The use of benzodiazepines and z-hypnotic drugs during pregnancy was not very prevalent in Norway. However, our findings imply that there is a substantial number of pregnancies where these drugs are dispensed often and/or in large quantities and where co-medication occurred.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Medicine, University of Oslo, P.O. 1078, Blindern, 0316, Oslo, Norway

    Brit Solvor Riska

  2. Department of Pharmacoepidemiology, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, P.O. Box 4404, Nydalen, 0403, Oslo, Norway

    Svetlana Skurtveit, Kari Furu, Anders Engeland & Marte Handal

  3. Norwegian Centre for Addiction Research, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Svetlana Skurtveit

  4. Department of Global Public Health and Primary Care, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway

    Anders Engeland

Authors
  1. Brit Solvor Riska
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  2. Svetlana Skurtveit
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  3. Kari Furu
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  4. Anders Engeland
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  5. Marte Handal
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Brit Solvor Riska.

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Riska, B.S., Skurtveit, S., Furu, K. et al. Dispensing of benzodiazepines and benzodiazepine-related drugs to pregnant women: a population-based cohort study. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 70, 1367–1374 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00228-014-1744-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00228-014-1744-4

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