International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health Article Pneumonia Risk Associated with the Use of Individual Benzodiazepines and Benzodiazepine Related Drugs among the Elderly with Parkinson’s Disease Kuang-Hua Huang 1,† , Chih-Jaan Tai 2,3,†, Yu-Hsiang Kuan 4,5 , Yu-Chia Chang 6,7,8, Tung-Han Tsai 1 and Chien-Ying Lee 4,5,* 1 Department of Health Services Administration, China Medical University, Taichung 40402, Taiwan;
[email protected] (K.-H.H.);
[email protected] (T.-H.T.) 2 School of Medicine, China Medical University, Taichung 40402, Taiwan;
[email protected] 3 Department of Otorhinolaryngology, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung 40402, Taiwan 4 Department of Pharmacology, Chung Shan Medical University, Taichung 40201, Taiwan;
[email protected] 5 Department of Pharmacy, Chung Shan Medical University Hospital, Taichung 40201, Taiwan 6 Department of Long Term Care, National Quemoy University, Kinmen 892009, Taiwan;
[email protected] 7 Department of Healthcare Administration, Asia University, Taichung 41354, Taiwan 8 Department of Medical Research, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung 40402, Taiwan * Correspondence:
[email protected] † These authors contributed equally to this work. Citation: Huang, K.-H.; Tai, C.-J.; Abstract: Most patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) gradually develop oropharyngeal dysphagia Kuan, Y.-H.; Chang, Y.-C.; Tsai, T.-H.; which is often associated with pneumonia risk. The possible association of benzodiazepine (BZD) Lee, C.-Y. Pneumonia Risk Associated and benzodiazepine related drugs (BZRD) use with pneumonia risk has received increasing attention with the Use of Individual but remains controversial. We investigated pneumonia risk associated with the use of BZDs and Benzodiazepines and Benzodiazepine BZRDs in older adult patients with PD.