Transcript File - Sedative

SEDATIVE HYPNOTIC
DRUGS

About 4% of U.S. adults aged 20 and over used prescription sleep
aids in the past month1.

The percentage of adults using a prescription sleep aid increased
with age and education. More adult women (5.0%) used
prescription sleep aids than adult men (3.1%)1.

Non-Hispanic white adults were more likely to use sleep aids
(4.7%) than non-Hispanic black (2.5%) and Mexican-American
(2.0%) adults1.
2005-2010 SEDATIVE INGESTION



Prescription sleep aid use varied by sleep duration and was
highest among adults who sleep less than 5 hours (6.0%) or sleep
9 or more hours (5.3%)1.
One in six adults with a diagnosed sleep disorder and one in eight
adults with trouble sleeping reported using sleep aids1.
In the past two decades, both popular media and
pharmaceutical companies have reported an increased number
of prescriptions filled for sleep aids in the United States1.
2005-2010 SEDATIVE INGESTION

Sedatives are used to treat problems such as anxiety, mood
disorders and insomnia, and include drugs such as Valium,
Halcion, Xanax, Ativan and Librium2.

Doctors in the United States are writing more prescriptions for
sedatives than ever before, and the frequent use of these
powerful drugs in combination with narcotic painkillers may be
causing medication-related deaths, a new study suggests2.
SEDATIVE PRESCRIPTION

For the study, researchers looked at 3.1 billion primary care visits
made by Americans between 2002 and 2009, and found that
12.6 percent of those visits involved prescriptions for sedatives
(benzodiazepines) or narcotic (opioid) painkillers. They also found
that the number of prescriptions for sedatives increased 12.5
percent a year2.

Patients who received narcotic painkiller prescriptions were 4.2
times more likely to also have sedative prescriptions, and the
number of joint prescriptions of opioids and benzodiazepines rose
12 percent a year, according to the researcher2.
SEDATIVE PRESCRIPTION STUDY

The study showed that the use of sedatives and narcotic
painkillers contribute to at least 30 percent of narcotic painkillerrelated deaths, according to investigators2.

“Doctors need to be better educated about the risks of
combining the two medications, and there needs to be better
coordination between those who prescribe narcotic
painkillers and those who prescribe sedatives.”- Dr. Ming-Chih
Kao2
SEDATIVE PRESCRIPTION STUDY

Headache

Nausea

Weakness

Insomnia

Chest Pains

Depression
SIDE EFFECTS OF HYPNOTICS3,4

1. "Prescription Sleep Aid Use Among Adults: United States 20052010." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, 29 Aug. 2013. Web. 02 Oct. 2014.
<http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db127.htm>.

2. “Study Finds Doctors Prescribing More Sedatives." - Drugs.com
MedNews. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2014.
<http://www.drugs.com/news/study-finds-doctors-moresedatives-50687.html>.
REFERENCES

3. "What Are the Side Effects of Hypnotics? - RxList." RxList. N.p., n.d.
Web. 05 Oct. 2014.
<http://www.rxlist.com/sleep_disorder_medications-page3/drugscondition.htm>.

4. "WFU Choices." Sedative-Hypnotics. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2014.
<http://choices.studentlife.wfu.edu/sedative-hypnotics/>.
REFERENCES

"Sedative Addiction-benzos Chemical, Psychological
Dependence | Rapid Opiate Detox Center in Europe.Heroin
Detox Followed by Opiate Blockers at RefindYourWay Center Part 1." Rapid Opiate Detox Center in EuropeHeroin Detox
Followed by Opiate Blockers at RefindYourWay Center. N.p., n.d.
Web. 05 Oct. 2014.
<http://rapiddetoxnaltrexone.com/addictions/sedativedependence/>.
REFERENCES