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Benzodiazepine Use Disorder Observed and Diagnosed in a Tertiary Care Pediatric Specialty Clinic: A Descriptive Retrospective Chart Review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 August 2024

Alex Smithers ,
Laura Miller ,
Melanie MacInnis  and
Selene Etches
Alex Smithers
Affiliation:
NS Health, Halifax, NS, Canada
Laura Miller*
Affiliation:
IWK Health, Halifax, NS, Canada
Melanie MacInnis
Affiliation:
IWK Health, Halifax, NS, Canada
Selene Etches
Affiliation:
IWK Health, Halifax, NS, Canada
*
*Presenting author.
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Abstract

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Aims

Objectives: In youth and young adults, it is common to encounter non-medical use of benzodiazepines, defined as use without a prescription or use for reasons other than that for which the medication is intended. Benzodiazepine use disorder remains understudied and overlooked, especially in youth and young adults. The primary objective of our study was to highlight the proportion of youth and young adults with aberrant use of benzodiazepines and diagnosed with benzodiazepine use disorder in a single centre. The secondary objective was to determine factors associated with aberrant benzodiazepine use and benzodiazepine use disorder in that sample.

Methods

This retrospective chart review screened for benzodiazepine use in 310 adolescent patients aged 12–19 seen for the first time in a concurrent disorders clinic, at a tertiary care clinic in Canada. Of those 310 patients, 167 were included in the final chart review.

Results

97.6% of patients who used benzodiazepines demonstrated aberrant use, and 39.3% of patients received a diagnosis of benzodiazepine use disorder.

Conclusion

This review showed that a substantial percentage of youth and young adults in a concurrent disorders clinic in Canada are presenting with aberrant benzodiazepine use and are being diagnosed with benzodiazepine use disorder. Despite this prevalence, there is little by way of literature to guide treatment of benzodiazepine use disorder in this population.

Type
1 Research
Information
BJPsych Open , Volume 10 , Supplement S1: Abstracts from the RCPsych International Congress 2024, 17–20 June , June 2024 , pp. S64 - S65
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2024. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Royal College of Psychiatrists

Footnotes

Abstracts were reviewed by the RCPsych Academic Faculty rather than by the standard BJPsych Open peer review process and should not be quoted as peer-reviewed by BJPsych Open in any subsequent publication.

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