Objective

To identify the prescription of benzodiazepines and psychotropic barbiturates: Clobazam, Thiop ental, Clonazepam, Lorazepam, Phenobarbital and Diazepam at the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS) in Costa Rica in the period 2011-2015.

Materials and methods

The population was constituted by 1 488 989 prescriptions of psychotropics within the CCSS in Costa Rica in the period from January 2011 to December 2015. The study is of a retrospective descriptive type.

Results

Of the total analyzed, almost half (47.15%) corresponded to Clonazepam. It is followed by Lorazepam and Diazepam with 22.80% and 22.53%, respectively. Finally, Phenobarbital, Clobazam and Thiopental are the least prescribed with 7.07%, 0.24% and 0.22% respectively. In terms of gender distribution, women received 62.65% of prescriptions, while the remaining 37.35% were for men.

Conclusion

There is an exponential increase in the consumption of these drugs in the five-year period under study. People at the end of their productive cycle (40 years or more) reached the highest percentages of consumption, which then fell to around 70 years or more; women were prescribed this type of drug the most. Therefore, continuous monitoring is necessary in order to promote the adequate use of these drugs and avoid generating potential health problems in the population, especially among the elderly.