While opioids like OxyContin remain the biggest threat to public health in the realm of prescription drugs, anti-anxiety medications — or benzodiazapines, also known as “benzos” — are a close second.
Overdose deaths from benzos, a class of drugs that includes Klonopin, Valium, and Xanax, are on the rise, according to a study led by researchers at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Montefiore Health System, and the Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania.
According to a press release, the institutes found that the death rate from overdoses on benzos “has increased more than four-fold since 1996 — a public health problem that has gone under the radar,” said lead author Marcus Bachhuber, M.D., MS., assistant professor of medicine at Einstein and attending physician, internal medicine at Montefiore. “Overdoses from benzodiazepines have increased at a much faster rate than prescriptions for the drugs, indicating that people have been taking them in a riskier way over time.”
Benzos are used to combat anxiety and mood disorders like bipolar and insomnia, which is why I take Klonopin. It is estimated that 1 in 20 Americans will fill a prescription for benzos in any given year.
In 2013, 31 percent of the nearly 23,000 deaths from prescription drug overdoses in the U.S. came from benzos.
The information was gathered from The Medical Expenditure Panel Survey and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It focused on the years 1996-2013.
However, the level of overdose deaths has plateaued since 2010. But for a few demographics — adults aged 65 and older who are black or Hispanic — overdose deaths have continued to rise.
“The greater quantity of benzodiazepines prescribed to patients — more than doubling over the time period — suggests a higher daily dose or more days of treatment, either of which could increase the risk of fatal overdose,” said senior author Joanna Starrels, M.D., M.S., associate professor of medicine at Einstein and attending physician, internal medicine at Montefiore.
People at high risk for fatal overdose may be obtaining benzodiazepines from the street and/or combining the pills with alcohol and other illicit drugs. Dr. Starrels pointed out that opioids are involved in 75 percent of overdose deaths involving benzos, and that during the period examined, opioid prescriptions have increased significantly.
“This epidemic is almost entirely preventable, as the most common reason to use benzodiazepines is anxiety — which can be treated effectively and much more safely with talk therapy,” said Sean Hennessy, Pharm.D., Ph.D., professor of epidemiology at Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine and co-author of the study. “Given the high prevalence of anxiety symptoms, we need a more constructive approach to the problem than popping pills.”
This study is a wakeup call for me. I’ve been known to take a few extra Klonopin when I can’t sleep. Don’t all of us who are on benzos? I’m supposed to take only one or two. Maybe it’s time to rethink that.
