• Xiang Zhou, Yufeng Zhang, Jianchang Chen, and Weiting Xu.
• Department of Cardiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, China.
• Intern. Med. 2012 Jan 1; 51 (8): 829832829-32.

BackgroundIt has been reported that the use of benzodiazepines (BDZs) is associated with an increased risk of coronary artery disease (CAD). However, it is still unclear whether or not non-BDZs use has the same adverse effect on the cardiovascular system.MethodsWe conducted a hospital-based case-control study with 864 CAD patients and 1,008 controls to explore the association between non-BDZs use and CAD risk in Chinese Han population.ResultsNon-BDZs use was found to be associated with a decreased risk of CAD (adjusted odds ratio, OR=0.73; 95% confidence interval, CI=0.54-0.98). Adjusted ORs were 0.91 (95% CI=0.63-1.32) for using non-BDZs 0 to 5 years, 0.64 (95% CI=0.38-0.97) for 5 to 10 years, and 0.42 (95% CI=0.18-0.85) for >10 years. The risk of CAD tended to decrease with an increase in duration of non-BDZs use (p<0.001 for trend).ConclusionOur study demonstrates that non-BDZs use is associated with a decreased risk of CAD. The potential cardiovascular protective mechanisms of non-BDZs should be investigated further.

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