Outcome
EVENT
In this study, purchases of prescribed anxiolytics and sedatives were used as outcomes. Information on drugs was obtained from the Swedish National Prescribed Drug Register covering November 2005 to November 2013. All prescriptions coded N05B (anxiolytics) and N05C (hypnotics and sedatives) according to the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical classification were extracted from the register with information about date the prescription was filled. This information was used to identify all 12-months periods that a person had purchased prescribed anxiolytics (yes/no) or sedatives (yes/no) during a 9-year time window. We centered the data around the 12-month period a person was exposed to downsizing (year 0) and used available data on annual purchases of prescribed sedatives and anxiolytics from four years before to four years after a downsizing event. These variables were used to investigate if exposure to downsizing increased the likelihood of purchasing sedatives and anxiolytics. The annual numbers of purchases of anxiolytics and sedatives were studied among the users, i.e., those who at any point during our study period had bought anxiolytics or sedatives, to assess the association between downsizing and the amount of purchases.