Soric MM, et al. - In view of the observation that patients with depression continue to receive benzodiazepine monotherapy despite depression guidelines discouraging and limiting use of this treatment to short-term adjunctive therapy with antidepressants, researchers investigated the prevalence and predictors of benzodiazepine monotherapy. In conducting a national, cross-sectional analysis of the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey from 2012 to 2015, they included 9,426 unweighted visits. One in ten patients with depression were identified to have received benzodiazepine monotherapy. Age of 45-64 years, epilepsy-related office visit, anxiety-related office visit, underlying pulmonary disease, and concomitant opiate prescribing were the predictive factors for benzodiazepine monotherapy. Compared to other providers, psychiatrists prescribed benzodiazepine monotherapy less frequently.