- Design
- Repeated cross-sectional analysis of national dispensing data
- Population
- About 1.1 billion US benzodiazepine fills, 2013–2024
- Primary outcome
- Annual prevalence and dose of benzodiazepine dispensing
- Effect
- Prevalence 7.5% to 5.5% (−26.7%); ages 18–29 −44.8%
Using national pharmacy data covering about 1.1 billion prescription fills, this repeated cross-sectional study tracked US benzodiazepine dispensing from 2013 to 2024. The annual share of the population dispensed a benzodiazepine fell from 7.5% to 5.5%, a relative fall of about 27%. The largest drop was among adults aged 18 to 29 (−45%).
Prescriptions from pain specialists (−63%), primary care physicians (−44%) and psychiatrists (−38%) fell sharply, while those from advanced practice providers such as nurse practitioners roughly doubled. The mean total dose per prescription fell across every age and prescriber group.
This is descriptive data from the US, and it cannot say whether the fall reflects better prescribing or patients losing access to appropriate treatment. Its value is as a mirror: the direction of travel is toward fewer and smaller supplies, and the growth has shifted to prescribers who may have less support in tapering.
- Review long-term benzodiazepine prescriptions at each repeat and record the plan to taper or continue.
- Prefer short, defined supplies when a benzodiazepine is genuinely indicated.
- Check for co-prescribed opioids or gabapentinoids, which compound sedation risk.
- Support colleagues who now carry more of the prescribing load with a clear tapering protocol.
Why it matters
Prescribing has shifted toward groups who may be less supported in deprescribing, which is where the next gains lie.
Don't overread it
Dispensing data cannot show whether patients were helped or harmed by receiving fewer benzodiazepines.
The statistics, in plain English
A relative fall of 27% (7.5% to 5.5%) is an absolute fall of 2 percentage points — about 2 fewer people in every 100 receiving a benzodiazepine in a year.
Read the rest in the app
You have read your two free briefings this month. The app carries all 27 specialties, every morning, free — and this finding is waiting in it.
Scan to keep reading on your phone. No account needed to start.
Tomorrow morning, before your first patient
One edition a day for psychiatry, written by the desk, every claim tied to its paper. Six minutes.
Get the app — free