In as study published in the Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, researchers say that the mortality risk of people who drugs for insomnia and anxiety increased by 36 percent.

The findings are based on the result of an analysis of 12 years of data involving over 14,000 Canadians. Dr. Genevieve Belleville, Professor, Universite Laval, said they used the data of Statistics Canada's National Population Health Survey that included information on social demographics, lifestyle and health of Canadians aged 18-102, surveyed every two years from 1994 to 2007.

The major findings of the study as listed below:

  • People who used medication to treat insomnia or anxiety at least once in the month had a mortality rate of 15.7 percent
  • Those who have not used such medication had a mortality rate of 10.5 percent.
  • Those who consumed sleeping pills or anxiety-relieving medications were associated with a 36 percent increase in the risk of death.

In the paper, Belleville had accounted for alcohol and tobacco consumption, physical health, physical activity level and the presence or absence of depressive symptoms among participants.

Medicine