Physician benzodiazepine self-use prior to and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario, Canada: a population-level cohort study.
BMJ Open
; 13(4): e062742, 2023 04 21.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2300629
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES:
The aim of this study was to investigate physician benzodiazepine (BZD) self-use pre-COVID-19 pandemic and to examine changes in BZD self-use during the first year of the pandemic.DESIGN:
Population-based retrospective cohort study using linked routinely collected administrative health data comparing the first year of the pandemic to the period before the pandemic.SETTING:
Province of Ontario, Canada between March 2016 and March 2021.PARTICIPANTS:
INTERVENTION Onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. OUTCOMESMEASURES:
The primary outcome measure was the receipt of one or more prescriptions for BZD, which was captured via the Narcotics Monitoring System.RESULTS:
In a cohort of 30 798 physicians (mean age 42, 47.8% women), we found that during the year before the pandemic, 4.4% of physicians had 1 or more BZD prescriptions. Older physicians (6.8% aged 50+ years), female physicians (5.1%) and physicians with a prior mental health (MH) diagnosis (12.4%) were more likely than younger (3.7% aged <50 years), male physicians (3.8%) and physicians without a prior MH diagnosis (2.9%) to have received 1 or more BZD prescriptions. The first year of the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a 10.5% decrease (adjusted OR (aOR) 0.85, 95% CI 0.80 to 0.91) in the number of physicians with 1 or more BZD prescriptions compared with the year before the pandemic. Female physicians were less likely to reduce BZD self-use (aORfemale=0.90, 95% CI 0.83 to 0.98) compared with male physicians (aORmale=0.79, 95% CI 0.72 to 0.87, pinteraction=0.046 during the pandemic. Physicians presenting with an incident MH visit had higher odds of filling a BZD prescription during COVID-19 compared with the prior year.CONCLUSIONS:
Physicians' BZD prescriptions decreased during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario, Canada. These findings suggest that previously reported increases in mental distress and MH visits among physicians during the pandemic did not lead to greater self-use of BZDs.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Physicians
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
Limits:
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
North America
Language:
English
Journal:
BMJ Open
Year:
2023
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Bmjopen-2022-062742
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