Psychiatric News (5/24) reports research indicates that “over 99% of prescriptions for the anticonvulsant gabapentin are off label, including many prescriptions for psychiatric disorders.” What’s more, “nearly 60% of the patients prescribed gabapentin were also found to be taking central nervous system depressants…such as benzodiazepines,” investigators concluded in a study that “specifically focused on data gathered from 2011 to 2016, which included 205,417 office visits involving patients aged 18 and older.” Of these visits, 5,732 involved a gabapentin prescription. The findings were published online May 21 in Psychiatric Services, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.
Related Links:
— “Off-Label Psychiatric Use of Gabapentin Found to Be Frequent, Risky, Psychiatric News, May 24, 2021