Key clinical point: A considerable number of patients with breast cancer (BC) who received sedative-hypnotic medications during adjuvant chemotherapy turned into new, persistent users of those medications even after chemotherapy.
Major finding: Overall, a substantial proportion of benzodiazepine-naive (15.6%)/Z-drug (zolpidem, zaleplon, and eszopiclone, the active stereoisomer of zopiclone)-naive (27.3%) patients who filled ≥1 prescription of benzodiazepine/Z-drug became persistent users. A shorter duration (<4 months) of chemotherapy and receipt of opioid prescriptions during chemotherapy were associated with new persistent sedative-hypnotic use in both benzodiazepine-naive and Z-drug-naive patients (both P ≤ .01).
Study details: Findings are from a study including patients with BC who were naive to benzodiazepine (n = 22,039) or Z-drug (n = 23,816) and received adjuvant chemotherapy.
Disclosures: This work was supported by the Breast Cancer Research Foundation and American Cancer Society. JD Wright declared receiving research support and royalties from some sources.
Source: Cogan JC et al. New and persistent sedative-hypnotic use after adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst. 2022 (Sep 20). Doi: 10.1093/jnci/djac170