From Medscape: “Despite years of warnings about the hazards of prescribing benzodiazepines for the elderly, these drugs continue to be used at a higher rate than what is considered appropriate in older Americans — particularly older women, new data show.
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Since 2012, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) has urged clinicians to avoid use of benzodiazepines in older adults. That recommendation is being reiterated in the AGS 2018 prescribing guidelines (called the Beers Criteria), which are under final review.
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‘We need to be a little bit more judicious with these,’ Nicole Brandt, PharmD, MBA, BCGP, BCPP, FASCP, executive director of the Peter Lamy Center on Drug Therapy and Aging, University of Maryland, Baltimore, told Medscape Medical News. Brandt said she continues to be concerned about the persistence of benzodiazepine use in the face of so many warnings and guidelines.”
