Clinical Outcomes of Benzodiazepine Prescribing for People Receiving Opioid Agonist Treatment: A Systematic Review of the Evidence.

Many countries are experiencing an increased use of unregulated benzodiazepines in combination with opioids and other drugs, which contributes to drug-related harm. This descriptive review identifies and synthesises the outcomes of studies co-prescribing benzodiazepines and opioids. A systematic review was undertaken in Medline, CINAHL, PsychInfo, Embase, and the Cochrane databases covering publications from 1 January 1991 to 18 November 2021.

Association between benzodiazepine coprescription and mortality in people on opioid replacement therapy: a population-based cohort study.

Objective: To investigate the association between opioid replacement therapy (ORT) and benzodiazepine (BZD) coprescription and all-cause mortality compared with the prescription of ORT alone.

Design: Population-based cohort study.

Setting: Scotland, UK.