A proportion among new users is not the prevalence among everyone with depression.
The Finnish cohort found that 849 benzodiazepine-related-drug initiators, about 7.5%, became long-term users. Associations included age, other medication use, anxiety and several clinical or social factors. The average long-term user was substantially younger than an exclusively geriatric population.
Register data lacked important details such as symptom severity and the actual prescribing indication. Confounding by indication remains possible. Related drugs were included, so the category should not be silently reduced to classical benzodiazepines.
State who entered the denominator and how long-term use was defined. Associated characteristics are not diagnostic criteria for dependence or misuse. Individual conclusions require indications, dispensing, actual ingestion and follow-up rather than a population risk-factor profile.
Source: PMC12623834, supplied full-text paper. Findings are paraphrased; forensic implications are an interpretation.
Related: A Selective GABA-A Modulator’s Three-Week Trial Cannot Exclude Long-Term Dependence.