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Response to ‘Reduced Prescribing of Benzodiazepines in Denmark and Norway’
Author(s) -
Eriksen Sophie Isabel,
Bjerrum Lars
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
basic and clinical pharmacology and toxicology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.805
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1742-7843
pISSN - 1742-7835
DOI - 10.1111/bcpt.12378
Subject(s) - norwegian , benzodiazepine , medical prescription , zolpidem , medicine , defined daily dose , pharmacoepidemiology , consumption (sociology) , population , pharmacology , environmental health , insomnia , social science , philosophy , linguistics , receptor , sociology
Dear Editor, According to the Nordic Medico-Statistical Committee (NOMESKO), inhabitants in Norway and Denmark had a comparably high consumption of benzodiazepine drugs and benzodiazepine receptor agonists (Z drugs) in 2005 (1). The Letter to the Editor “Reduced Prescribing of Benzodiazepines in Denmark and Norway”, states that the number of users per 1000 inhabitants of long-acting and short-acting benzodiazepines and Z drugs have been studied in the total Norwegian population between 2005 and 2013. The study shows that the number of users of long-acting benzodiazepines are reduced between 2005 and 2013 (from 45/1000 inhabitants to 30/1000 inhabitants), but no similar reduction is observed for the short-acting benzodiazepines (mainly hypnotics). As stated in the article ‘Reducing Prescriptions of Long-Acting Benzodiazepine Drugs in Denmark: A Descriptive Analysis of Nationwide Prescriptions during a 10-Year Period’, the use of both long-acting and short-acting benzodiazepines and Z drugs decreased considerably between 2003 and 2013, a decline to which national guidelines on the use of addictive drugs, introduced in 2008, may have contributed. The Letter to the Editor states that Norwegian national guidelines have been introduced in 2014, and that it will be important to study the impact of the guidelines on the use of benzodiazepines and Z drugs. Historically, Scandinavian countries are often compared, not least when it comes to healthcare systems. Data from NOMESKO shows that high consumption of benzodiazepines and Z drugs is not only a problem in Norway, but also in Sweden, Iceland and Finland (1). In 2012, the consumption of Z drugs was as high as 65.1 DDD/1000 inhabitants/day in Iceland, with corresponding figures of 35.3 in Sweden and 34.7 in Norway. Denmark ranks lowest with Z drug use of 14.2 DDD/1000 inhabitants/day in 2012. The fact that there is an absence of decline in Norwegian consumption of Z drugs in the similar period observed in the article by Eriksen and Bjerrum, a period with national guidelines in Denmark but not in Norway, supports the assumption that national guidelines may help reduce the use of benzodiazepines and Z drugs on a larger scale. As Norway has a nationwide prescription database similar to the Danish one, it is highly likely that Norwegian researchers will be able to study the effect of new national guidelines on the prescription of addictive drugs.