Epidemiological Assessment of Benzodiazepine Dependence via Pharmacist-Led EMR Review in Pain and Palliative Care Institution

In this outpatient pain and palliative-care population, benzodiazepine-related dependence phenomena were common: 59.7% of patients met the criteria for dependence based on the pharmacist-led EMR review. The involvement of the pharmacist was essential, as this systematic evaluation would have been difficult to perform within routine medical consultations. The pharmacist's contribution enabled a detailed epidemiological characterization, revealing that the exposure duration-more than daily dose-was the principal, modifiable correlate of dependence, and that alprazolam was disproportionately represented in the higher-dependence categories. These findings underscore the value of pharmacist-supported surveillance to identify and measure BZD dependance.