Use of minor tranquilizers among Norwegian physicians. A nation-wide comparative study

Elin Olaug Rosvold, Per Vaglum and Torbjørn Moum

Social Science & Medicine, vol. 46, issue 4-5, 581-590

Abstract: The use of minor tranquilizers (hypnotics and anxiolytics) during the last month before a questionnaire was answered was studied in a postal survey of a nation-wide representative sample of Norwegian physicians (n = 1467), aged 25 to 69 years. The response rate was 73%. A total of 12.2% of the physicians had used minor tranquilizers in the past month, one third of these on a daily or weekly basis. There was no gender difference. High age, high mental distress, and working outside the hospital was identified as risk factors for drug use. Compared to a representative sample of subjects from the general population with the same age and education level, (The Nord-Trøndelag Health Survey), more male physicians than males in the comparison sample had used minor tranquilizers in the past month, also when controlled for subjective well-being. However, the physicians had used the drugs more sporadic. When self-prescription of minor tranquilizers was studied in a different sample of 1024 Norwegian physicians, it was found that 72.6% of the physicians had self-prescribed the drugs. There was no gender difference in self-prescribing.

Keywords: physicians; drug; use; minor; tranquilizers; self-prescription; mental; health; subjective; well-being (search for similar items in EconPapers)
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