Veterans, Prescription Opioids and Benzodiazepines, and Mortality, 2007–2019

Veterans are more likely than non-veterans to experience pain, trauma, and mental health challenges due to training and combat-related service. Treatment often results in the prescription of opioid and benzodiazepine medications. In 2024, the National Academies were tasked with convening a committee of experts to evaluate the effects of these medications on all-cause mortality of veterans, including suicide, regardless of whether information relating to such deaths was reported to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The resulting report examines newly dispensed opioid pharmacotherapy in veterans without and with current benzodiazepine pharmacotherapy; varying levels of the initial baseline dosage and dosage escalation of dispensed opioid pharmacotherapy; and newly dispensed benzodiazepine compared to alternative non-benzodiazepine pharmacotherapy in veterans with consistent opioid pharmacotherapy.