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- Wednesday, February 4, 2004
- Pharmacotherapeutic Implications and Prescribing Pattern of Benzodiazepines (BZD) by Psychiatrists and Neurologists
- Published at:Not Found
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Pharmacotherapeutic Implications and Prescribing Pattern of
Benzodiazepines (BZD) by Psychiatrists and Neurologists
Waleed Sweileh, Nidal Jaradat
College of Pharmacy, An-Najah National University, Nablus, Palestine.
E-mail: [email protected], [email protected]
Received: (30/6/2003), Accepted: (2/3/2004)
Abstract
The aim of this study is to explore and investigate benzodiazepine (BZD)
prescribing pattern by neurologists and psychiatrists. Randomly selected five hundred
and five neurologists and psychiatrists prescriptions were collected throughout West-
Bank and analyzed using SPSS 10 for windows. Approximately half of the prescriptions
contain BZD with alprozolam being the most commonly prescribed BZD followed by
clonazepam. More than half of the BZD prescriptions were missing important patient
and dispensing information. Gender of the patient and physician’s specialty were not a
determining factor in choosing or prescribing BZD. Antidepressants were commonly
co-prescribed with BZD (57%). BZD were more commonly co-prescribed with tricylic
antidepressants (TCA) antidepressants than selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors
(SSRIs). Approximately 20% of antipsychotic prescriptions contained BZD especially
clonazepam. In conclusion, although our study is not based on complete clinical
investigation of patients disease and drug history, it is clear that there is some
irrational BZD prescribing practices based on the general requirements for BZD
prescriptions.
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