History of Benzodiazepine Prescriptions and Risk of Dementia: Possible Bias Due to Prevalent Users and Covariate Measurement Timing in a Nested Case-Control Study.

ABSTRACT: Previous estimates of whether long-term exposure to benzodiazepines increases dementia risk are conflicting and are compromised by the difficulty of controlling for confounders and by reverse causation. We investigated how estimates for the association between benzodiazepine use and later dementia incidence varied based on study design choices, using a case-control study nested within the United Kingdom's Clinical Practice Research Datalink. A total of 40,770 dementia cases diagnosed between April 2006 and July 2015 were matched on age, sex, available data history, and deprivation to 283,933 control subjects. Benzodiazepines and Z-drug prescriptions were ascertained in a drug-exposure period 4-20 years before dementia diagnosis. Estimates varied with the inclusion of new or prevalent users

SUBMITTER: Richardson K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6601519 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature