Associations of Benzodiazepine With Adverse Prognosis in Heart Failure Patients With Insomnia

Background The prognostic impact of benzodiazepines has been unclear in patients with heart failure (HF). Methods and Results This was a historical observational cohort study. A total of 826 patients who had been hospitalized for HF and were being treated for insomnia with either benzodiazepines or Z-drugs (zolpidem, zopiclone, or eszopiclone), were enrolled and divided on the basis of their hypnotics: benzodiazepine group (n=488 [59.1%]) and Z group (n=338 [40.9%]). We compared the patient characteristics and postdischarge prognosis between the groups. The primary end points were rehospitalization for HF and cardiac death. The benzodiazepine group was older (age, 72.0 versus 69.0 years; =0.010), had a higher prevalence of depression (17.4% versus 8.9%;