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Spaniards Consume Three Times More Hypnotics Than Two Decades Ago

Spaniards Consume Three Times More Hypnotics Than Two Decades Ago

The primary users are women, particularly those aged 55 to 64, with one in five in this age group taking these anxiolytics.

Alfonso Torices

Madrid

Jueves, 2 de enero 2025, 00:10

Spaniards face a significant health issue with the rampant consumption of hypnotics, the most commonly used type of medication to address or at least alleviate certain mental health disorders such as anxiety and insomnia.

International reports had already highlighted Spain as one of the developed countries with the highest consumption of psychotropic drugs. However, a study conducted by experts from the University of Santiago de Compostela now provides very descriptive figures about the alarming level of hypnotic use, popularly known as anxiolytics, whose consumption has skyrocketed in less than two decades.

The research indicates that the prevalence among Spaniards of medications belonging to the family of drugs such as lorazepam or diazepam has nearly tripled in seventeen years.

Currently, one in five citizens aged 15 to 64 in this country regularly takes some form of hypnotic. The percentage of Spaniards consuming any dose of anxiolytics in the last 30 days increased from just 3.7% in 2005 to 9.7% of the population in 2022, the last year with closed official data. This rapid increase equates to a continuous rise in consumers of these psychotropic drugs by almost 5% in each of the last seventeen years, according to the study published in the scientific journal of the Spanish Society of Public Health and Health Administration (Sespas).

The authors' analysis considers that the reasons behind this worrying percentage of regular hypnotic consumers are varied, but the main one is the significant growth in diagnoses of mental disorders, primarily anxiety or depression, recorded in Spain over the last decade and a half, especially fueled by two major social upheavals: the great financial crisis and the subsequent pandemic shock.

However, they add that the mental impact of high unemployment rates and job insecurity is compounded by the easy access to these drugs and overmedication due to the scarcity and saturation of public psychiatry and psychology consultations, where the problem can be addressed with non-pharmacological therapies.

The study describes a health problem that is clearly centered on women. In Spain, women consume 64% more hypnotics than men of the same age. Among Spanish women, the proportion of regular users is 12% compared to 7% for men. But besides a clear gender bias, there is also an age bias. If, in addition to being women, they are Spanish women aged 55 to 64, the users of these psychotropic drugs rise to 21.4%, meaning that more than one in five take them regularly, which is more than double the general consumption.

The researchers cite several factors they believe contribute to the tremendous volume of female consumption of these pills. The main reason would be that in Spain, there are more women than men diagnosed with anxiety and depression, among other reasons because they somatize disorders more, are more aware of mental health issues, and are consequently more likely to seek professional help. Additionally, doctors are also more prone to attribute certain symptoms to psychological aspects when it comes to women and more to physical causes when it comes to men.

Territorial Disparity

The levels of anxiolytic consumption also vary greatly depending on the region of Spain. Areas with higher prevalence usually coincide with places where there are more cases of anxiety or depression, an older population, or a higher percentage of people with socioeconomic vulnerability.

The regions with hypnotic consumption rates almost double the national average are Galicia, the Balearic Islands, and Andalusia, while those with the least use are the Basque Country, Catalonia, and especially Madrid, where it is half the national average. However, if instead of the current prevalence of use, the growth rate of consumption since 2005 is considered, the regions where it has increased the most are Cantabria, where it multiplied by seven, and La Rioja, with six times more.

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