Medication analysis of benzodiazepine receptor agonists in the Outpatient Department of a tertiary-level Class A psychiatric hospital
Zhang Qian
He Lian
Liu Changqing
Xie Wanjun
Yang Guo
Yun Yuan
Abstract：Objective To analyze the utilization of benzodiazepine receptor agonists(BZRA)in the Outpatient Department of a tertia-ry-level Class A psychiatric hospital to promote the rational use of BZRA.Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the number of patients(328 547)and prescriptions(346 805)using BZRA from July 2021 to June 2024 in The Second People's Hospital of Guizhou Province.Excel 2019 software was employed to calculate the drug utilization metrics including defined daily doses(DDDs),drug utilization index(DUI),daily cost(DDc)and the ratio of BZRA for all drugs prescribed(B/A).A special prescription review was conducted for Schedule Ⅱ controlled substances to analyze the rational use of BZRA.Results The consumption and expenditure on BZRA increased annually with growth rates of 57.14％and 41.17％from July 2021 to June 2024,respectively.Oxazepam,zolpidem,and estazolam ranked top three in terms of expenditure.In terms of DDDs,Estazolam,zolpidem and alprazolam were the top three,with zolpidem and oxazepam showing rapid growth in DDDs.The top three drugs with DUI greater than 1.00 were zolpidem,estazolam and midazolam.Zolpidem and alpra-zolam had the lowest DDc values,ranging from 0.36 to 0.94 yuan.The B/A ratio varied between 0.20 and 3.00.The proportion of pa-tients using BZRA accounted for 32.79％of the total outpatient visits,and prescriptions for Schedule Ⅱ controlled substances accounted for 30.18％of the total prescriptions.The prescription compliance rate was 91.99％,with the main issues being drug interactions,inap-propriate dosage and administration,and selection of unsuitable medications.Conclusion The increasing consumption and expendi-ture on BZRA highlights the growing demand for mental health services.The use of BZRA is fundamentally rational,but there is a need to strengthen comprehensive management to ensure the safety and rationality of clinical medication to reduce drug misuse.
Keywords：Benzodiazepine receptor agonistsMedication frequencyDrug utilization indexDaily average costPrescription reviewRational drug use
Publication Date：2025-08-25
Online Publishing Date：2025-09-01(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：5( 953-957 )