Long-Term Benzodiazepine Consumption and Its Repercussions on Aged Brain Performance

Benzodiazepines, often known as BZDs, are widely used sedatives, hypnotics, and anxiolytics which are particularly frequent among older persons. The purpose of the research was to investigate the potential effects of benzodiazepines on cognitive skills in well-educated elderly persons. This research comprised 152 elderly those with a basic education of 15.8 years. The participants was split into three distinct categories: long-term, short-term, and non-users of BZD. Three statistical tests the evaluation of variance, chi-squared test, and the evaluation of variance was utilized to investigate demographic data and cognitive evaluations for the three groups. Using a multiple linear aggression technique, the relationship among BZD usage and cognition was examined. The Trail Making Test B (TMT-B) results showed that each of the three categories was substantially different from one another in terms of executive functioning. Long-term BZD (LTBZD) users exhibited substantial faults on TMT-B time, whereas short-term BZD (STBZD) users presented substantial flaws on TMT-B time and TMT-B errors. LTBZD users significantly outperformed STBZD users in terms of TMT-B mistakes. Other cognitive tests including general intelligence, linguistic fluency, verbal memory, and visual memory revealed no significant changes. Greater BZD usage over time were favorably correlated with results for the updated Brief Visuospatial Memory Test when demographic factors were taken into account. Among older persons with high levels of education, BZD usage may be strongly linked to lower executive functioning. However, there is no link between increasing cognitive impairments in older persons with high levels of education and the length of BZD usage.