Abstract
In order to determine the characterristic use of benzodiazepines for insomniacs amongpsychiatrists and other physicians, we retrospectively investigated the prescriptions for outpatients consulting psychiatry, internal medicine 1 and orthopaedic surgery departments at Nagasaki University Hospital. In the psychiatry department, the rate of prescriptions on an intermediate-term or a long-term effective type was approximately 60%, and combinations with 2 or 3 kinds of benzodiazepines were found in approximately 30% of all prescriptions. In the internal medicine 1 and orthopaedic surgery departments, more than 80 % of the benzodiazepines prescribed were an ultrashort-term or a short-term effective type. Other differences in the use of benzodiazepines for insomniac were also observed for the psychiatry and other clinical departments.