A secondary analysis linked the pandemic period with higher benzodiazepine use among people who inject drugs with an HCV history. It was an exploratory period comparison.
Repeated observations from the HERO study were compared before and during COVID-19. The pandemic period was associated with increased reported benzodiazepine use, injection, reuse of equipment, and depression scores.
Anxiety and sharing of injection equipment did not show the same significant period differences. Different outcomes therefore should not be collapsed into a universal deterioration claim.
The original study was not designed to test pandemic effects. Restrictions, resources, treatment access, and drug markets changed rapidly, while grouping the entire period could obscure short fluctuations.
An association with a calendar period cannot identify which change caused an individual’s use. The population also differs from all people prescribed benzodiazepines. This paper supports attention to continuity of care and exposure context, but cannot establish dose escalation, prescribed versus unprescribed sourcing for every observation, or a causal pathway from benzodiazepines to the measured depression change.
Original analysis of the supplied journal article, identified as PMC13251049.