[Benzodiazepines and benzodiazepine-like anxiolytics and hypnotics. The implausible contraindication of closed angle glaucoma].

Official drug information materials mention angle-closure glaucoma as an absolute or relative contraindication for benzodiazepines, albeit with some unexplained variability. A systematic review of the literature reveals that this contraindication seems to be based on only one published case while 22 other investigations, some of them controlled, tend to favor that benzodiazepines reduce intraocular pressure. The common 1990-2001 database of the Drug Commission of the German Medical Profession and the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices contained one spontaneous report of glaucoma related to a benzodiazepine-like hypnotic.