To identify predictive variables of chronic benzodiazepine use among elderly patients with depressive disorder.

This was a cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical study, including 41 patients suffering from depressive disorders, aged 65 years or more, treated with benzodiazepine (BZD) and followed-up in outpatient psychiatry unit at Hedi Chaker university hospital in Sfax in Tunisia. We used a standardized questionnaire including socio-demographic and clinical data. Chronic BZD use was defined as BZD availability at least 50% of the days between day 181 and day 365 following initiation.

The average age of patients was 69.29 ± 5.7 years. The sex ratio (M/F) was 0.5. The majority of them were married (78%), unemployed (82.9%) and living in urban area (61%). They had at most a primary degree (90.2%) and a low socioeconomic level (63.4%). The average time of BZD consumption was 4 years and 5 months.

The prevalence of chronic BZD use in our sample was 56.1%. Duration of benzodiazepine use was greater than 1 year for all chronic BZD users. The mean dose of Benzodiazepine (Lorazepam) consumed was 3.87 ± 2.8 mg per day. Chronic BZD use was correlated with low socioeconomic level (86.3% vs 36.8%; P = 0.000), psychiatric comorbidity (72.7% vs 26.3%; P = 0.004) and recent hospitalization (59% vs 15.7%; P = 0.023).

There is a high prevalence of chronic BZD use in our study. For the 65 years and older patients with depressive disorder, significant predictors of chronic BZD use were low socioeconomic level, psychiatric comorbidity and recent hospitalization.

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.