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Associations between Benzodiazepine Use and Neuropsychological Test Scores in Older Adults*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 March 2015

Edward Helmes  and
Truls Østbye
Edward Helmes*
Affiliation:
James Cook University
Truls Østbye
Affiliation:
Duke Global Health Institute
*
†La correspondance et les demandes de tirés-à-part doivent être adressées à: / Correspondence and requests for offprints should be sent to: Dr. Edward Helmes Department of Psychology James Cook University Townsville Qld 4811 Australia (edward.helmes@jcu.edu.au)
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Abstract

Benzodiazepines are widely prescribed for anxiety, although use of this class of medications has been associated with dependency and cognitive changes. This article describes the study in which we investigated the relationship between the class of benzodiazepine available for use and associated performance on neuropsychological tests in a community sample of 1,754 older Canadians from the Canadian Study of Health and Aging. Benzodiazepines were classified as short-, intermediate-, and long-acting. Associations were calculated between each class of benzodiazepine and eight neuropsychological measures, using multiple regression analysis and controlling for demographic variables. Results showed different effects of the co-variates across the three drug classes, and short half-life benzodiazepines were not associated with any neuropsychological measure. Intermediate half-life and long half-life benzodiazepine use were each associated with two measures. Increased focus on specific domains of cognitive function is needed to improve our understanding of how benzodiazepine use influences cognition.

Résumé

Les benzodiazépines sont largement prescrits pour l'anxiété, bien que l'utilisation de cette classe de médicaments fût associée à la dépendance et les changements cognitifs. Cet article décrit une étude dans laquelle j'ai examiné la relation entre une* classe des benzodiazépines disponibles pour l'utilisation et le rendement lié aux tests neuro-psychologiques dans un échantillon de communauté de 1 754 Canadiens âgés de l'Etude canadienne sur la santé et le vieillissement. Les benzodiazépines ont été classés comme ayant une action de courte durée, intermédiare ou longue. À l'aide d'une analyse de régression multiple, et tenant compte de variables démographiques, les associations ont été calculées entre chaque catégorie de benzodiazépine et huit mesures neuro-psychologiques. Les résultats ont révélé des effets différents au sein des classes des trois médicaments; les benzodiazépines avec une courte demi-vie n'etaient associées à aucune mesure neuro-psychologique. Chacune des benzodiazépines à demi-vie intermédiare et à longue demi-vie ont été associée à deux mesures. Afin d'améliorer notre compréhension de la façon dont l'utilisation des benzodiazépines influence la cognition, une concentration accrue sur des domaines spécifiques de la fonction cognitive est requise.

Keywords

agingbenzodiazepinesmemoryolder adultsvieillissmentbenzodiazépinesmémoireadultes plus âgés
Type
Articles
Information
Canadian Journal on Aging / La Revue canadienne du vieillissement , Volume 34 , Issue 2 , June 2015 , pp. 207 - 214
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Association on Gerontology 2015 

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Footnotes

*

Sincere thanks to Simon Crowe for inspiring the analyses. Core funding for Phases 1 & 2 of the CSHA was provided by the Seniors’ Independence Research Program, through Health Canada’s NHRDP. Funding for analysis of the caregiver component was provided by the Medical Research Council. Additional funding was provided by Pfizer Canada Inc. through the MRC/PMAC, NHRDP, by Bayer Inc., and by the B.C. Health Research Foundation. Core funding for Phase 3 was provided by the CIHR. Supplementary funding for the caregiver component was obtained from CIHR. Additional funding was provided by Merck-Frosst and by Jansen-Ortho. CSHA was coordinated through the University of Ottawa and Health Canada.

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