Benzodiazepine prescribing

Last month, the research round-up provided you with an overview of three varied articles on the topic of opioid stewardship. This month, we will review three articles concerned with prescribing benzodiazepines.

The first article looks at the co-prescribing of opioids and benzodiazepines in oncology care. The second article reviews the use of benzodiazepines in status epilepticus. Finally, our third article deals with benzodiazepine use versus clonidine in alcohol withdrawal management.

This article, published in the Journal of Geriatric Oncology, sought to understand the practices of cancer care providers around the prescription of opioids and benzodiazepines when co-prescribed in cancer care, and to elucidate and mitigate potential harms.

The research aimed to understand the extent of this common co-prescribing pairing using outpatient settings in two large academic medical centres located on the eastern border of the United States. These centres provided oncological and palliative care management of pain and other symptoms. This qualitative study, using semi-structured interviews, sought attitudes on current prescribing practices for opioids and benzodiazepines and included factors affecting clinical decision-making and risk mitigation between March and September 2023. Interviewees included medical doctors and advanced practice providers. In total, 20 providers were recruited with an even split between oncology and palliative care settings.