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WEDNESDAY, Oct. 17, 2018 (HealthDay News) — For patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and comorbid posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), long-term benzodiazepine use is not associated with mortality, but there is an association for short-term benzodiazepine use, according to a study published online Oct. 12 in the Annals of the American Thoracic Society<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Lucas M. Donovan, M.D., from the Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle, and colleagues examined the mortality risks of long-term benzodiazepine exposure among 44,555 patients with COPD and PTSD identified within the Veterans Health Administration during 2010 to 2012. Overall and cause-specific mortality of patients with long-term (\u226590 days) benzodiazepine use was assessed relative to matched patients who did not use benzodiazepines.<\/p>\n
The researchers found that 23.6 percent of patients received benzodiazepines long term. In the matched sample of 19,552 patients, there was no difference in mortality (hazard ratio for long-term use, 1.06; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.95 to 1.18), but the risk for suicide was elevated among those with long-term use (hazard ratio, 2.33; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.14 to 4.79). Short-term, but not long-term, use was associated with increased mortality among matched and unmatched patients (short-term: hazard ratio, 1.16; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.05 to 1.28; long-term: hazard ratio, 1.03; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.94 to 1.13).<\/p>\n
“Although long-term benzodiazepine use among patients with COPD and PTSD is not linked with overall mortality, the association with suicide is concerning,” Donovan said in a statement.<\/p>\n
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