By David Liu PHD

Saturday March 3, 2012 (foodconsumer.org) -- If you are taking sleeping pills, you are more likely to die or develop cancer than those who do not, according to a new study published in the online journal BMJ Open.

People taking at least 8 doses a year of certain commonly prescribed sleeping pills were four times as likely to die as those who do not use the drugs, the study found.   

Even those who took less than 18 doses per year were 3.5 times as likely to die as those taking no sleeping pills.

The study also found people who took higher doses of sleeping pills were not only at higher death risk, but also at a higher risk for cancer.  The increase in cancer risk among those taking highest doses per year was 35 percent, compared to those who did not take the drugs.

The dangerous sleeping pills include benzodiazepines, such as temazepam; non-benzodiazepines, such as zolpidem, eszopiclone, and zaleplon; barbiturates; and sedative antihistamines.

The authors of the study found these associations after comparing more than 10,500 people years with various underlying conditions, who used prescription sleeping pills for an average of 2.5 years between 2002 and 2007, with 23,500 people who were matched for age, sex, lifestyle, and underlying health conditions, but did not use prescribed sleeping pills over the same period of time.

Additionally the researchers found those who took more than 132 doses per year were more than five times as likely to die as those using none of sleeping pills.

And these associations were observed in all age groups, but they were particularly significant among those aged 18 to 55.

D.F. Kripke of Scripps Clinic Viterbi Family Sleep Center in La Jolla, California and colleagues, the authors of the study reported that 5 to 10 percent of adult Americans used a sleeping pill in the United States alone.