Benzodiazepine prescription among patients with severe mental illness and co-occurring alcohol abuse/dependence in Taiwan.

Objective: Because benzodiazepines (BZDs) may be abused, prescribing them is debatable. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prescription of BZDs to explore the current status of BZD use at discharge and at 4 months after discharge.

Methods: From 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2006, prescribed doses for BZDs at discharge and at 4 months after discharge were recorded for all discharged inpatients with schizophrenia, bipolar I disorder, and major depressive disorder. Two‐way analysis of variance was used to analyze the effects of severe mental illness and co‐occurring alcohol abuse/dependence on BZD doses at discharge and at 4 months after discharge.

Results: Patients with severe mental illness prescribed with significantly higher rates and higher doses of BZDs at discharge and at 4 months after discharge are more likely to have major depressive disorder and to have co‐occurring alcohol abuse/dependence problems. No significant interactions were found between severe mental illness and co‐occurring alcohol abuse/dependence.

Conclusions: These findings suggest that caution should be applied in prescribing BZDs to patients with severe mental illness, particularly those with major depressive disorder and co‐occurring alcohol abuse/dependence. Future studies require being conducted in many different mental health‐care systems in Taiwan to generalize the findings.