Health-related Quality of Life in older people using benzodiazepines: a cross-sectional study

Aim of this study is to investigate the QoL older people making regular use of BDZ. All subjects aged 65-84 years attending their General Practitioners were invited to fill in a questionnaire about their consumption of BDZ and all the subjects consuming BDZ to fill in the Medical Outcome Measures Short Form-36 (MOS SF-36) and the Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders (PRIME-MD) questionnaires. A total of 2,246 subjects used BDZ and 1,109 (49.4%) of them filled in the MOS SF-36 questionnaire. 1,005 of these participants also completed the PRIME-MD questionnaire (90.6%). The presence of sleep disorders and the characteristics of the BDZ used were not associated with any score in the MOS SF-36 questionnaire, whereas the Prime diagnosis was the most important predictor, since subjects with depression and/or anxiety had a lower mean score on each scale than subjects without disorders. Among a sample of Italian seniors taking BDZ, QoL was associated with the presence of anxiety and/or depression. Age, gender, education and the presence of cardiovascular diseases or stroke were associated with specific aspects of QoL, when anxiety and depression were controlled for.

Scopo del presente studio era di investigare la qualità della vita in un campione di soggetti anziani facenti uso regolare di benzodiazepine (BDZ). Tutti i soggetti con un’età compresa tra i 65 e 84 anni che si recavano dal proprio Medico di Medicina Generale nel periodo dello studio sono stati invitati a compilare un questionario sul loro consumo di BDZ e i soggetti che risultavano essere consumatori di BDZ a compilare anche i questionari Medical Outcome Measures Short Form-36 (MOS SF-36) e Primary Care Evaluation of Mental Disorders (PRIME-MD). 2246 soggetti risultavano fare uso di BDZ e 1109 (49.4%) hanno accettato di compilare anche il questionario MOS SF-36. 1005 di questi soggetti (90.6%) hanno compilato anche il questionario PRIME-MD. I punteggi rilevati dal questionario MOS SF-36 non erano influenzati dalla presenza di disturbi del sonno o dalle caratteristiche delle BDZ usate, mentre i soggetti con depressione o ansia riscontrati con il questionario PRIME-MD mostravano valori più bassi su tutta la scala del questionario MOS SF-36.