Role of private prescriptions in the long‐term use of benzodiazepines and Z‐drugs: A patient‐related follow‐up study

Purpose To analyse (1) how often patients insured under the statutory health insurance (SHI) scheme received repeated prescriptions for benzodiazepines or Z‐drugs as private prescriptions and (2) how often doctors switched from SHI prescriptions to private prescriptions and vice versa when issuing repeat prescriptions. Methods On basis of anonymized prescriptions from 874 ambulatory practices in Germany, we analysed the percentage of private prescriptions for Z‐drugs, benzodiazepines/anxiolytics, and benzodiazepines/hypnotics and sedatives over 6 years (2014 to 2020). Results Of 2 200 446 prescriptions for a benzodiazepine or Z‐drug, 38% were private prescriptions. In case of Z‐drugs, the rate of private prescriptions was 44.1% for single prescriptions and 48.9% for refills. The difference was smaller for anxiolytics (23.3% vs. 26.0%) and, for benzodiazepine/hypnotics and sedatives, the proportion of private prescriptions for refills was even lower than for single prescriptions. In case of Z‐drugs, the proportion of private prescriptions was, on average, 42.7% for the first prescription of a series of repeat prescriptions and 49.6% for the tenth prescription. The increase was smaller for anxiolytics and negligible for benzodiazepine/hypnotics and sedatives. Doctors stayed with their initial decision in more than three quarters of repeat prescriptions, be it a SHI or private prescription. Conclusion While we observed a large number of private prescriptions for benzodiazepines and Z‐drugs, the proportion was only slightly higher for refills than for single prescriptions. Doctors do not seem to issue private prescriptions as a strategy to mask especially long‐term use of these substances.