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Prescription rates per 1000 consultations, the proportion of repeat prescriptions above recommendations, and the proportion of prescriptions for patients with a recent (within 2 years) recorded diagnosis of insomnia were analysed using adjusted regression models.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results<\/jats:title><jats:p>Rates of BZD, Z-drug, and non-BZD prescriptions were 56.6, 4.4, and 15.5 per 1000 consultations in 2011 and 41.8, 3.5, and 21.5 per 1000 consultations in 2018, respectively. Over the whole study period, temazepam represented 25.3% of the prescriptions and diazepam 21.9%. All BZD and zolpidem prescriptions declined over the whole study period (annual change varying from \u22121.4% to \u221210.8%), but non-BZD and zopiclone prescriptions increased in the same period (annual change 5.0% to 22.6%). Repeat prescriptions that exceeded recommended levels remained at &lt;10% for all medications, except melatonin (64.5%), zolpidem (63.3%), zopiclone (31.4%), and alprazolam (13.3%). In 2018, &gt;50% of Z-drug and melatonin prescriptions were for patients with insomnia. There was an annual increase of 0.8\u20135.9% in the proportion of prescriptions associated with a recently recorded diagnosis of insomnia.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title><jats:p>Overall, BZD prescriptions in Australia declined between 2011 and 2018. However, the prescription of some of these drugs increased for patients with a recently recorded diagnosis of insomnia. This is concerning because of the potential adverse effects of these medications and the risk of dependence.<\/jats:p><\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3399\/bjgp.2021.0054","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,4]],"date-time":"2021-05-04T13:45:49Z","timestamp":1620135949000},"page":"e877-e886","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":47,"title":["Trends in the prescription of drugs used for insomnia: an open-cohort study in Australian general practice, 2011\u20132018"],"prefix":"10.3399","volume":"71","author":[{"given":"Mumtaz","family":"Begum","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"David","family":"Gonzalez-Chica","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Carla","family":"Bernardo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Amelia","family":"Woods","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nigel","family":"Stocks","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1987","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,5,4]]},"reference":[{"issue":"1","key":"2022012700300963000_71.712.e877.1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"35","DOI":"10.1016\/j.sleh.2016.11.005","article-title":"Sleep health of Australian adults in 2016: results of the 2016 Sleep Health Foundation national survey","volume":"3","author":"Adams","year":"2017","journal-title":"Sleep Health"},{"key":"2022012700300963000_71.712.e877.2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5694\/mja13.10620"},{"key":"2022012700300963000_71.712.e877.3","unstructured":"Sleep Health Foundation (2017) Asleep on the job: costs of inadequate sleep in Australia (Sleep Health Foundation, Blacktown, NSW) https:\/\/www.sleephealthfoundation.org.au\/files\/Asleep_on_the_job\/Asleep_on_the_Job_SHF_report-WEB_small.pdf (accessed 9 Jun 2021)."},{"key":"2022012700300963000_71.712.e877.4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.sleep.2012.06.013"},{"issue":"6","key":"2022012700300963000_71.712.e877.5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"52","DOI":"10.1007\/s11906-018-0850-6","article-title":"Insomnia, short sleep duration, and high blood pressure: recent evidence and future directions for the prevention and management of hypertension","volume":"20","author":"Bathgate","year":"2018","journal-title":"Curr Hypertens Rep"},{"issue":"1","key":"2022012700300963000_71.712.e877.6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"375","DOI":"10.1186\/s12888-016-1075-3","article-title":"Insomnia and the risk of depression: a meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies","volume":"16","author":"Li","year":"2016","journal-title":"BMC Psychiatry"},{"key":"2022012700300963000_71.712.e877.7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0187256"},{"key":"2022012700300963000_71.712.e877.8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/eurheartj\/ehr007"},{"key":"2022012700300963000_71.712.e877.9","unstructured":"Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (2015) Prescribing drugs of dependence in general practice, part B \u2014 benzodiazepines (Royal Australian College of General Practitioners, Melbourne)."},{"issue":"12","key":"2022012700300963000_71.712.e877.10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1147","DOI":"10.1056\/NEJMra1611832","article-title":"Treatment of benzodiazepine dependence","volume":"376","author":"Soyka","year":"2017","journal-title":"N Engl J Med"},{"key":"2022012700300963000_71.712.e877.11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0269881113503509"},{"issue":"6","key":"2022012700300963000_71.712.e877.12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1625","DOI":"10.1111\/bcp.13075","article-title":"Road traffic crash risk associated with benzodiazepine and z-hypnotic use after implementation of a colour-graded pictogram: a responsibility study","volume":"82","author":"Orriols","year":"2016","journal-title":"Br J Clin Pharmacol"},{"key":"2022012700300963000_71.712.e877.13","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2105\/AJPH.2016.303061"},{"key":"2022012700300963000_71.712.e877.14","unstructured":"Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (2018) Drug related hospitalisations (AIHW, Canberra) Cat. no. 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