Skip to content Skip to navigation
University of Warwick
  • Study
  • |
  • Research
  • |
  • Business
  • |
  • Alumni
  • |
  • News
  • |
  • About

University of Warwick
Publications service & WRAP

Highlight your research

  • WRAP
    • Home
    • Search WRAP
    • Browse by Warwick Author
    • Browse WRAP by Year
    • Browse WRAP by Subject
    • Browse WRAP by Department
    • Browse WRAP by Funder
    • Browse Theses by Department
  • Publications Service
    • Home
    • Search Publications Service
    • Browse by Warwick Author
    • Browse Publications service by Year
    • Browse Publications service by Subject
    • Browse Publications service by Department
    • Browse Publications service by Funder
  • Help & Advice
University of Warwick

The Library

  • Login
  • Admin

Socioeconomic status and benzodiazepine and Z-drug prescribing : a cross-sectional study of practice-level data in England

Tools
- Tools
+ Tools

Soyombo, Stephanie, Stanbrook, Rhian, Aujla, Harpal, Capewell, David, Shantikumar, Mary, Kidy, Farah, Todkill, Daniel and Shantikumar, Saran (2019) Socioeconomic status and benzodiazepine and Z-drug prescribing : a cross-sectional study of practice-level data in England. Family Practice . doi:10.1093/fampra/cmz054 (In Press)

[img]
Preview
PDF
WRAP-Socioeconomic-benzodiazepine-Z-drug-prescribing-England-Shantikumar-2019.pdf - Accepted Version - Requires a PDF viewer.

Download (1802Kb) | Preview
Official URL: https://doi.org/10.1093/fampra/cmz054

Request Changes to record.

Abstract

Background
Benzodiazepines and Z-drugs (such as zopiclone) are widely prescribed in primary care. Given their association with addiction and dependence, understanding where and for whom these medications are being prescribed is a necessary step in addressing potentially harmful prescribing.

Objective
To determine whether there is an association between primary care practice benzodiazepine and Z-drug prescribing and practice population socioeconomic status in England.

Methods
This was a cross-sectional study. An aggregated data set was created to include primary care prescribing data for 2017, practice age and sex profiles and practice Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) scores—a marker of socioeconomic status. Drug doses were converted to their milligram-equivalent of diazepam to allow comparison. Multiple linear regression was used to examine the association between IMD and prescribing (for all benzodiazepines and Z-drugs in total, and individually), adjusting for practice sex (% male) and older age (>65 years) distribution (%).

Results
Benzodiazepine and Z-drug prescribing overall was positively associated with practice-level IMD score, with more prescribing in practices with more underserved patients, after adjusting for age and sex (P < 0.001), although the strength of the association varied by individual drug. Overall, however, IMD score, age and sex only explained a small proportion of the overall variation in prescribing across GP practices.

Conclusion
Our findings may, in part, be a reflection of an underlying association between the indications for benzodiazepine and Z-drug prescribing and socioeconomic status. Further work is required to more accurately define the major contributors of prescribing variation.

Item Type: Journal Article
Subjects: R Medicine > RC Internal medicine
R Medicine > RM Therapeutics. Pharmacology
Divisions: Faculty of Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Health Sciences
Faculty of Medicine > Warwick Medical School > Health Sciences > Population, Evidence & Technologies (PET)
Faculty of Medicine > Warwick Medical School
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH): Benzodiazepines, Anxiety -- Treatment -- Research, Sedatives, Medicine -- Formulae, receipts, prescriptions
Journal or Publication Title: Family Practice
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISSN: 0263-2136
Official Date: 22 October 2019
Dates:
DateEvent
22 October 2019Available
26 August 2019Accepted
Date of first compliant deposit: 28 August 2019
DOI: 10.1093/fampra/cmz054
Status: Peer Reviewed
Publication Status: In Press
Publisher Statement: This is a pre-copyedited, author-produced version of an article accepted for publication in Family Practice following peer review. The version of record Stephanie Soyombo, Rhian Stanbrook, Harpal Aujla, David Capewell, Mary Shantikumar, Farah Kidy, Daniel Todkill, Saran Shantikumar, Socioeconomic status and benzodiazepine and Z-drug prescribing: a cross-sectional study of practice-level data in England, Family Practice, , cmz054, is available online at: https://doi.org/10.1093/fampra/cmz054.
Access rights to Published version: Open Access
Description:

Free access as of 06/11/2019

RIOXX Funder/Project Grant:
Project/Grant IDRIOXX Funder NameFunder ID
UNSPECIFIED[NIHR] National Institute for Health Researchhttp://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100000272
Related URLs:
  • Publisher

Request changes or add full text files to a record

Repository staff actions (login required)

View Item View Item

Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

View more statistics

twitter

Email us: wrap@warwick.ac.uk
Contact Details
About Us