A cross-sectional Australian study found lower EQ-5D-5L scores among residents prescribed benzodiazepines. The association did not establish that the medication caused the difference.
The analysis included 541 residents at seventeen facilities, many with cognitive impairment or dementia. Medication exposure came from prescribing or dispensing in the preceding hundred days. Quality of life was assessed by residents or proxies using more than one instrument.
Greater overall psychotropic medication count was associated with lower quality-of-life scores after adjustment. The benzodiazepine association was reported for EQ-5D-5L; antipsychotics had an association with a different measure.
A prescribing or dispensing record does not establish every administered dose. Symptoms prompting treatment could also reduce quality of life. Measuring exposure and outcome cross-sectionally leaves their sequence uncertain.
Forty percent of eligible residents declined participation. Home-like facilities shared a provider and state, and proxy responses could introduce measurement bias.
Separate the reason for treatment, actual administration, resident function, and the person reporting the outcome. This study supports considering medication burden during a broader assessment. It does not attribute an individual resident’s decline to benzodiazepines or prove that a different residential model would remove that person’s need for treatment.
Original analysis of the supplied journal article, identified as PMC6389148.