Thursday, September 9, 2010

Use of medication for insomnia or anxiety increases mortality risk by 36 percent

Taking medications to treat insomnia and anxiety increases mortality risk by 36%, according to a study conducted by Geneviève Belleville, a professor at Université Laval's School of Psychology. The details of this study are published in the latest edition of the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry.

Dr. Belleville arrived at these results through analysis of 12 years of data on over 14,000 Canadians in Statistics Canada's National Population Health Survey. The data includes information on the social demographics, lifestyle, and health of Canadians age 18 to 102, surveyed every two years between 1994 and 2007.

During this period, respondents who reported having used medication to treat insomnia or anxiety at least once in the month preceding the survey had a mortality rate of 15.7%. Respondents who reported not having used such medications had a rate of 10.5%. After controlling for personal factors that might affect mortality risk, notably alcohol and tobacco consumption, physical health, physical activity level, and the presence or absence of depressive symptoms among participants, Dr. Belleville established that the consumption of sleeping pills or anxiety-relieving medications was associated with a 36% increase in the risk of death.

A number of hypotheses have been put forward to explain the link between use of these medications and increased mortality. Sleeping pills and anxiolytics affect reaction time, alertness, and coordination and are thus conducive to falls and other accidents. They may also have an inhibiting effect on the respiratory system, which could aggravate certain breathing problems during sleep. These medications are also central nervous system inhibitors that may affect judgment and thus increase the risk of suicide.

"These medications aren't candy, and taking them is far from harmless," commented Dr. Belleville. "Given that cognitive behavioral therapies have shown good results in treating insomnia and anxiety, doctors should systematically discuss such therapies with their patients as an option. Combining a pharmacological approach in the short term with psychological treatment is a promising strategy for reducing anxiety and promoting sleep."

via Use of medication for insomnia or anxiety increases mortality risk by 36 percent.

4 comments:

Brenda said...

Thanks for this post. My son just got on anxiety medication and this really opened my eyes to the potential risks......mighty scary for sure!

Sam said...

Hey, Brenda: I would never try to tell you what you should do, but do please be careful when weighing the so-called "potential risks." The fact is that your son might be in a lot more danger without the medication than with it. Anxiety attacks are very difficult, and having them often could easily degenerate the boy to worse conditions, and at the very least could cripple him mentally, emotionally, socially and economically for the rest of his life. Please have long talks with your doctor (and maybe show him a print-out of this article) before making any big decisions.

Remember that "news" is what "news agencies" are in the business of "news"; if there's nothing to say then they have to shut down. The news is not in any way the same as scientific/medical professionals or scientific/medical journals.

Sam said...

That was supposed to have said,
"Remember that “news” is what “news agencies” are in the business of {doing}; if there’s nothing to say then they have to shut down. The news is not in any way the same as scientific/medical professionals or scientific/medical journals.

April said...

This was my thought too. I am on Celexa because I have crippling anxiety, OCD and depression. I was not living in this state and believe the benefits outweigh the risks in my case. It would be better if it were stated what medications were causing problems as that has a major role in things.