Benzodiazepines, a class of drugs commonly used to induce anesthesia and sedation, can attenuate intracellular calcium oscillations evoked by alpha(1)-adrenergic receptor (alpha(1)-AR) stimulation in pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells. We postulated a direct action of benzodiazepines in modulating alpha(1)-AR function at the receptor level. Benzodiazepines bound to each of the cloned alpha(1)...

Antipsychotics are a key intervention strategy in pharmacotherapy of schizophrenia. However, benzodiazepines are often prescribed to control sleep disturbances, anxiety or behavioural disinhibition. There is clinical evidence for the beneficial effect of the combined treatment of antipsychotics and benzodiazepines resulting in more favorable treatment outcome in schizophrenia with regard to pos...

OBJECTIVE We aimed to estimate risk of recurrent overdose associated with psychosocial assessment by psychiatrists during hospitalization for nonfatal overdose and prescribing patterns of psychotropic medications after discharge. METHODS A retrospective cohort study was conducted using a nationwide claims database in Japan. We classified patients aged 19-64 years hospitalized for nonfatal ove...

BACKGROUND Knowledge regarding whether benzodiazepines and similarly acting non-benzodiazepines (Z-drugs) are associated with an increased risk of pneumonia among older adults is lacking. We sought to investigate this association among community-dwelling adults with Alzheimer disease, a condition in which both sedative/hypnotic use and pneumonia are common. METHODS We obtained data on all com...

BACKGROUND This study examined trends in the prescription of benzodiazepines for the elderly (age over 65 years) in Korea, a country with a higher level of spending on pharmaceuticals compared to that in other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries, and identified factors related to the inappropriate use of such drugs. METHODS We used the National Health Insura...

The aim of this study was to assess the health conditions and use of health services among elderly users of benzodiazepines. The study was carried out in the city of Bambuí in Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Of 1,742 inhabitants aged over 60, 1,419 participated in the study. Information about benzodiazepine and the use of other medications was obtained by means of interviews and checking medication...