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Benzodiazepines or related drugs and risk of pneumonia: A systematic review and meta‐analysis
Author(s) -
Sun Guoqing,
Zhang Lei,
Zhang Lina,
Wu Zhe,
Hu Defeng
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
international journal of geriatric psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.28
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1099-1166
pISSN - 0885-6230
DOI - 10.1002/gps.5048
Subject(s) - pneumonia , medicine , observational study , confidence interval , odds ratio , meta analysis , risk factor , intensive care medicine , relative risk
Objective Benzodiazepines and benzodiazepine‐related drugs (BZRDs) are used to treat various psychiatric diseases. However, there are concerns that BZRDs increase the risk of pneumonia. Methods We performed a systematic review and meta‐analysis of observational studies to determine whether BZRD use affects the risk of pneumonia. Our analysis included all observational studies that compared pneumonia development among patients receiving BZRD vs those with no treatment. Results In total, 12 citations of 10 studies involving more than 120,000 pneumonia cases were included in our meta‐analysis. After pooling the estimates, the odds for developing pneumonia were 1.25‐fold higher (odd ratio, OR = 1.25; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.09‐1.44) in BZRD users compared with individuals who had not taken BZRD. On the basis of exposure window, we found an increased risk of pneumonia among current (OR = 1.4; 95%CI, 1.22‐1.6) and recent (OR = 1.38; 95%CI, 1.06‐1.8) users, but not with the past users (OR = 1.11; 95%CI, 0.96‐1.27). Conclusion Current or recent exposure to BZRD is associated with an increased pneumonia risk. Clinicians need to weight the benefit‐risk balance of BZRD use, especially those with other risk factors for pneumonia.