Benzodiazepine reduction in general practice. Are the elderly neglected?

In two Danish general practices a few simple rules applicable to all age groups were introduced in order to reduce consumption of benzodiazepines (BZ) and cyclopyrrolones (CP). These rules, termed the "Thyborøn-Model", included the termination of telephone prescriptions, the issuance of prescriptions only following personal consultation and the restriction of prescriptions to a maximum of a single month's consumption. The purpose of the present demographic analysis is to investigate whether the intervention was successful for the elderly, who are considered to be a special target group. The findings presented here reveal that the number of BZ and CP users increased with increasing age. Furthermore, the results indicate that the intervention was effective in reducing the consumption of BZ and CP for middle-aged and elderly patients, and that there is a significantly better effect of this model for middle-aged than for elderly patients. These findings constitute the first demographic evaluation of the effects of the "Thyborøn-Model" with focus on the special target group of elderly patients, and indicate that it is advisable to introduce these simple rules for all age groups, especially since they also are effective on elderly patients.