FRIDAY, Feb. 24 (HealthDay News) -- Older adults who take benzodiazepines run a greater risk of developing problems with mobility and performing the activities of daily living (ADL) than non-users, according to a study published in the February issue of the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. The risk is increased with both short- and long-acting forms of the drugs, the authors say.
Shelly L. Gray, Pharm.D., of the University of Washington in Seattle, and colleagues studied 9,093 people aged 65 or older who were not disabled, including 5.5 percent who were using benzodiazepines at baseline.
The researchers found that benzodiazepine users were 1.23 times as likely as nonusers to develop a mobility-related disability, such as an inability to walk half a mile or climb one flight of stairs. Users were also 1.28 times as likely to develop difficulty with the activities of daily living, such as an inability to perform one or more basic tasks from bathing to dressing.
The risk for incident mobility increased with short-acting and long-acting benzodiazepines, and the risk of ADL disability was greater with short-acting agents than no use.
"Older adults taking benzodiazepines have a greater risk for incident mobility and ADL disability," the authors write. "Use of short-acting agents does not appear to confer any safety benefits over long-acting agents."
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