Pneumonia Risk Associated with the Use of Individual Benzodiazepines and Benzodiazepine Related Drugs among the Elderly with Parkinson’s Disease

Kuang-Hua Huang, Chih-Jaan Tai, Yu-Hsiang Kuan, Yu-Chia Chang, Tung-Han Tsai and Chien-Ying Lee
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Kuang-Hua Huang: Department of Health Services Administration, China Medical University, Taichung 40402, Taiwan
Chih-Jaan Tai: School of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung 40402, Taiwan
Yu-Hsiang Kuan: Department of Pharmacology, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung 40201, Taiwan
Yu-Chia Chang: Department of Long Term Care, National Quemoy University, Kinmen 892009, Taiwan
Tung-Han Tsai: Department of Health Services Administration, China Medical University, Taichung 40402, Taiwan
Chien-Ying Lee: Department of Pharmacology, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung 40201, Taiwan

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 17, 1-13

Abstract: Most patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) gradually develop oropharyngeal dysphagia which is often associated with pneumonia risk. The possible association of benzodiazepine (BZD) and benzodiazepine related drugs (BZRD) use with pneumonia risk has received increasing attention but remains controversial. We investigated pneumonia risk associated with the use of BZDs and BZRDs in older adult patients with PD. This case-control study analyzed data of 551,975 older adult patients with PD between 2001 and 2018 in Taiwan. To minimize potential confounding, we used 1:4 propensity score matching to include older adult patients without pneumonia as controls. Incident pneumonia risk was significantly higher in current (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.25, 95% CI = 1.23–1.27) and past (aOR = 1.13, 95% CI = 1.11–1.15) users of BZDs. Regarding BZRDs, recent (aOR = 1.08, 95% CI = 1.06–1.11) and past (aOR = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.88–0.91) users had higher and lower risks of incident pneumonia, respectively. Pneumonia risk varied based on their use of BZDs and BZRDs. In these individuals, incident pneumonia risk was high in users of BZDs, such as midazolam, lorazepam, flunitrazepam, estazolam, and clonazepam. Regarding the use of BZRDs, zopiclone increased incident pneumonia risk.

Keywords: benzodiazepines; benzodiazepine related drugs; pneumonia; Parkinson’s disease (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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