V S Tardelli1, T M Fidalgo2, S S Martins3. 1. Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Brazil. Electronic address: vstardelli@unifesp.br. 2. Department of Psychiatry, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Brazil. 3. Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health - Columbia University, United States. Electronic address: ssm2183@cumc.columbia.edu.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Z-drugs are hypnotic drugs used for insomnia with considerable potential of abuse. We investigated the relationship of past-year medical and non-medical use of z-drugs with past-year: i) psychological distress; ii) medical use, non-medical use, and DSM-IV use disorder of Benzodiazepine (BZD) tranquilizers; iii) use and DSM-IV alcohol and marijuana use disorders, recreational drugs with a depressant effect on the central nervous system. METHODS: Data came from the 2015-2017 NSDUH (n = 128,740). Participants aged 18+ were asked if they had used any Z-Drug medically or non-medically in the past year. We investigated the associations between the three-level z-drugs variable with psychological distress and BZD, alcohol, and marijuana variables in multinomial logistic regression models. RESULTS: Past-year prevalences of z-drug use were 3.3% for medical and 0.5% for non-medical use. Medical and non-medical users of z-drugs had higher risk of psychological distress, compared to non-users. Medical and non-medical users of z-drugs had higher risk of medical use, non-medical use, and BZD use disorders. Compared to non-users of z-drugs, medical users had higher risk of marijuana and alcohol use and alcohol use disorders, while non-medical users had higher risk of marijuana use and marijuana use disorders and alcohol. CONCLUSION: Z-drug users have elevated risk of use and dependence of BZDs and recreational drugs, possibly due to concurrent prescribing and self-medication.
BACKGROUND: Z-drugs are hypnotic drugs used for insomnia with considerable potential of abuse. We investigated the relationship of past-year medical and non-medical use of z-drugs with past-year: i) psychological distress; ii) medical use, non-medical use, and DSM-IV use disorder of Benzodiazepine (BZD) tranquilizers; iii) use and DSM-IV alcohol and marijuana use disorders, recreational drugs with a depressant effect on the central nervous system. METHODS: Data came from the 2015-2017 NSDUH (n = 128,740). Participants aged 18+ were asked if they had used any Z-Drug medically or non-medically in the past year. We investigated the associations between the three-level z-drugs variable with psychological distress and BZD, alcohol, and marijuana variables in multinomial logistic regression models. RESULTS: Past-year prevalences of z-drug use were 3.3% for medical and 0.5% for non-medical use. Medical and non-medical users of z-drugs had higher risk of psychological distress, compared to non-users. Medical and non-medical users of z-drugs had higher risk of medical use, non-medical use, and BZD use disorders. Compared to non-users of z-drugs, medical users had higher risk of marijuana and alcohol use and alcohol use disorders, while non-medical users had higher risk of marijuana use and marijuana use disorders and alcohol. CONCLUSION: Z-drug users have elevated risk of use and dependence of BZDs and recreational drugs, possibly due to concurrent prescribing and self-medication.
Authors: Jacob C Cogan; Rohit R Raghunathan; Melissa P Beauchemin; Melissa K Accordino; Elena B Elkin; Alexander Melamed; Jason D Wright; Dawn L Hershman Journal: Breast Cancer Res Treat Date: 2021-06-04 Impact factor: 4.872