[Benzodiazepines at the general hospital. An example of their use at the Périgueux Hospital Center]

Abstract

The authors study prevalence and characteristics of BZD use in a general hospital (Périgueux, France). They try to point out the particularities of user's population (age, sex, psychiatric past, pathology at admission), the characteristics of prescription (nature, indication, dose, time of use), the place of BZD among the other anxiolytic and hypnosedative drugs employed. They come to the conclusion that strong prevalence of BZD use is not related to abusive prescription during hospitalization but to the lack of criticism concerning former prescriptions.