Researchers at the University of Nottingham in England have discovered that patients taking a class of commonly prescribed sleeping pills called benzodiazepines are at an increased risk of contracting and dying from pneumonia.
The research recently was published in Thorax, an international journal of respiratory medicine.
“These drugs are commonly prescribed medications that have significant immune effects,” says Richard Hubbard, a professor of respiratory epidemiology. “Deep sleep induced by these drugs may mean that secretions can build up in the lungs. Our results suggest that they may increase both the risk of and mortality from pneumonia.”
Benzodiazepines are used as sedatives for alcohol withdrawal, anxiety, epilepsy, insomnia, muscle spasm and palliative care. Their use is prevalent in elderly patients. The drugs, however, have been associated with an increased incidence of infections and death from sepsis in the critically ill.
Researchers studied about 5,000 patients who had been diagnosed with pneumonia. Each was compared with six similar people, matched by age and sex. Patients taking benzodiazepines had a 54% increased risk of pneumonia. And those who did contract it were 20% more likely to die within a month and a third more likely to die within three years.
