Short term use are prescriptions lasting 2-4 weeks, including tapering off time, consecutively, or less. This method of prescribing is safer and aligned with guideline recommendations, but not without any risk.
Professor Sam Timimi, a consultant child and adolescent psychiatrist and director of postgraduate education in the NHS in Lincolnshire and a visiting professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at the University of Lincoln, points out why in this video:
Even though they can be useful in the short-term, one of the big problems is – particularly in the way we think about what we’re doing when we’re prescribing drugs, psychiatric drugs – these days, is that even a short-term prescription can open the window towards a long-term one. Particularly if the prescriber is not aware of the potential for withdrawal symptoms, even after short-term prescriptions. What that can lead to is the prescriber confusing withdrawal symptoms with a return or even worsening of the original problem. And, from there, the window is opened towards a more long-term prescription rather than helping the person work through whatever withdrawal symptoms are occurring.
Also, even in short-term use, there are reports of people experiencing adverse effects (like paradoxical reactions) —sometimes severe ones—which are often misdiagnosed and “treated” with more drugs, leading to poly-drugging, expensive and invasive testing and often a prescription cascade. This is why, even if benzodiazepines are only used short term, it is so important that the medical community become fully aware of the risks and dangers so that they may quickly and accurately recognize and diagnose such things as resulting from the benzodiazepines before the patient is further harmed, misdiagnosed or improperly poly drugged.
There are many reports in of benzodiazepine harmed patients experiencing physically dependence in a very short time (less than 4 weeks) and/or who also reported experiencing tolerance, interdose, and subsequent withdrawal symptoms upon attempts at cessation even when the drugs were taken as prescribed for less than the recommended 4 weeks time.
Lastly, a meta-analysis published in May 2017 in the journal Clinical Pharmacist shows that fracture risk is highest among new users of both benzodiazepines and Z-drugs:
Researchers carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies involving benzodiazepines, Z-drugs and hip fracture risk. They identified 18 studies involving benzodiazepines and 6 involving Z-drugs. Compared with non-exposure, short-term use (up to 14 days) of benzodiazepines was associated with a 140% increased risk of hip fracture. medium-term use carried a 53% increased risk; and long-term use (>month) carried a 20% increased risk. For Z-drugs, short-term use was associated with a 139% increased risk of hip fracture and mixed-term use carried an 80% increased risk.
Additionally, the risks of benzodiazepines, at any length of time, has been found in studies to double the risk of car accidents. This outcome is consistent in many epidemiological studies.