ArticleScience progress
Benzodiazepine use and incident risk of sudden cardiac arrest in patients with cardiovascular diseases.
Article in Science progress. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Effects of Benzodiazepines on Heart Failure Outcomes and Adverse Events: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Cardiovascular toxicology · 2026Pooled it
- Signals of Venous Thromboembolism Risk from Drug-Drug Interactions Involving Benzodiazepines and Other Sedative Hypnotics: Self-Controlled Case Series Analyses.Clinical drug investigation · 2026Article
- A mechanism investigation on the effective strategy for alleviating acute myocardial infarction associated with sleep deprivation.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2026Article
- Mental Disorders as Risk Factors for New Onset Cardiovascular Diseases.Biomedicines · 2026Review
- Risk factors for sudden cardiac death or sudden unexplained death in patients treated with clozapine: systematic review.BJPsych open · 2026Review
- Long-term systolic blood pressure and cardiovascular risks among patients with ischemic stroke: a register-based cohort study.Journal of global health · 2025Article
- Drug-induced cardiac arrest: a pharmacovigilance study from 2004-2024 based on FAERS database.Frontiers in cardiovascular medicine · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBenzodiazepines (BZDs) are commonly prescribed as adjunctive drugs for patients with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), particularly those who experience anxiety or insomnia. However, the relationship between the use of BZDs and incident risk of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) has not been well investigated. In this study, we aimed to examine the association between the use of BZDs and the incident risk of SCA among patients with CVD.
methodIn this retrospective cohort study, a total of 74,715 eligible patients with new-onset CVD as a primary cause of hospitalization between July 2016 and August 2022 were included from the health information platform in Shenzhen, China. Among them, 61,761 BZD non-initiators were identified and matched to 12,954 BZD initiators by propensity score at a maximum ratio of 5:1. Propensity score-matched Cox proportional hazard models were used to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).
resultsOver a 12-month follow-up period, 29 (2.24 per 1000 person-years) and 137 (2.22 per 1000 person-years) SCA cases occurred among propensity score-matched BZD initiators and non-initiators, respectively. Patients who initiated BZD treatment were associated with a 101% increased risk of SCA incidence compared with patients without BZD treatment (adjusted HR: 2.01, 95% CI: 1.42, 2.83). Furthermore, compared with the non-use (0 defined daily dose, DDD), the adjusted HR was 1.43 (95% CI: 1.32, 1.56) for the BZD consumption of ≤1 DDD and 2.58 (95% CI: 2.37, 2.81) for the BZD consumption of >1 DDD (
conclusionThis study provides evidence that BZD initiation may be associated with an increased incident risk of SCA in patients with CVD. Our finding highlights the importance of cautious prescribing BZDs in the health management of patients with CVD.
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