PATIENTS taking a common sleeping pill are at increased risk of contracting pneumonia and dying, Nottingham research has found.
The research into patients taking benzodiazepines was carried out by the University of Nottingham and published in the journal Thorax – an international journal of respiratory medicine.
It was led by Eneanya Obiora, a student in the School of Community Health Sciences under the supervision of Richard Hubbard, a professor of respiratory epidemiology and Dr Puja Myles, an expert in infectious disease epidemiology.
Professor Hubbard said: "These drugs are commonly prescribed medications that have significant immune effects. 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 a class of commonly prescribed sleeping pills used as sedatives for anxiety, epilepsy, muscle spasm, alcohol withdrawal, palliative care, insomnia and to provide sedation.
The research team looked at just under 5,000 patients of all ages who had been diagnosed with pneumonia. They compared each of them with six similar people, matched by age and sex and drawn from the same GP practice that had not contracted the condition.
The study found that taking benzodiazepine was associated with a 54 per cent increased risk of pneumonia and those who did contract it were a fifth more likely to die within a month and a third more like to die within three years.
Current users of the drugs were 90 per cent more likely to contract pneumonia whereas past users were 40 per cent more likely to contract the lung condition.
Dr Myles said: "Our results are consistent with data from previous clinical trials which have raised concerns over the effects of these drugs in critically ill patients."
