Cognitive effects of long-term benzodiazepine use in older adults.

Full Abstract

This study examined the potential for cognitive morbidity associated with the long-term use of benzodiazepine (BZ) sedative-hypnotics in a sample of healthy older adults. Tests of memory, attention and processing speed were conducted prior to and 1 month after drug discontinuation for 25 BZ-users and at similar intervals for 26 healthy control subjects. After controlling for differences in affective status between BZ-users and controls, there were no significant group differences in cognitive performance. However, BZ-users showed greater gains on tests of attention and speed of processing at repeat testing compared with controls this improvement was not attributable to a change in affective status. These findings suggest that there may be subtle and reversible effects of long-term BZ use on speed-dependent tasks in older adults. However, the magnitude of these effects is quite small and may be of little clinical significance in the healthy elderly.Copyright 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Author information

Author/s: Pat McAndrews, Mary (M); Weiss, Rachel T (RT); Sandor, Paul (P); Taylor, Ann (A); Carlen, Peter L (PL); Shapiro, Colin M (CM);

Affiliation: Department of Psychology, Toronto Western Hospital and University of Toronto, Canada. mcandrws(-atsign-)uhnres.utoronto.ca

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Clinical Trial; Comparative Study; Journal Article; Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Journal: Human psychopharmacology (Hum Psychopharmacol), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2003-Jan; vol 18 (issue 1) : pp 51-7

Dates: Created 2003/01/17; Completed 2003/05/27; Revised 2008/11/21;

PMID: 12532315, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 12/26/2008)

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

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MeSH headings (categories)

This article was linked to the MESH Headings shown below.

Aged
Anti-Anxiety Agents - administration & dosage; adverse effects; pharmacology
Benzodiazepines - administration & dosage; adverse effects; pharmacology
Cognition - drug effects
Female
Humans
Learning - drug effects

Learning - drug effects
Male
Memory, Short-Term - drug effects
Middle Aged
Neuropsychological Tests
Psychometrics - methods
Psychomotor Performance - drug effects

Associated Chemicals: Anti-Anxiety Agents (0) ; Benzodiazepines (12794-10-4)

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