A survey of general practitioners reported that the reason for initiating benzodiazepines was due to an empathy for the patients suffering and a lack of other therapeutic options rather than patients demanding them. However, long-term use was more commonly at the insistence of the patient, it is presumed, because physical dependence or addiction had developed.Approximately twice as many women as men are prescribed benzodiazepines. It is believed that this is largely because men typically turned to alcohol to cope with stress and women to prescription drugs. Biased perception of women by male doctors may also play a role in increased prescribing rates to women; however, increased anxiety features in women does not account for the wide gap alone between men and women.Based on findings in the US from the Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS), an annual compilation of patient characteristics in substance use disorder treatment facilities in the United States, admissions due to "primary tranquilizer" (including, but not limited to, benzodiazepine-type) drug use increased 79% from 1992 to 2002.A study published in the British Journal of General Practice in July 2017 found that in a sample taken from a survey conducted in 2014–2015 in Bradford a mean of 0.69% of registered patients had been prescribed benzodiazepines for more than a year. This would suggest that there were around 300,000 long-term users of diazepine in the UK. History
Previously, physical dependence on benzodiazepines was largely thought to occur only in people on high-therapeutic-dose ranges.
Other types of genetic cystic kidney disease include juvenile nephronophthisis (JNPHP), medullary cystic kidney disease (MCKD), and glomerulocystic kidney disease (GCKD). Polycystic Kidney Disease
PKD causes numerous cysts to grow in the kidneys. These cysts are filled with fluid and if they grow excessively, changing the shape of them and making them larger, leading to kidney damage. Mutations in genes PKD1 and PKD2 are responsible for autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), which is typically diagnosed in adulthood. Those genes encode for polycystic proteins and mutations regarding those genes are inherited and responsible for the disorder of autosomal dominant cystic kidney disease. In the United States, more than half a million people have PKD, making it the fourth leading cause of kidney failure. PKD affects all races and genders equally and those with PKD have a possibility of developing cysts in other organs such as liver, pancreas, spleen, ovaries, and large bowel. Usually, these latter cysts do not impose a problem. Half of patients have no manifestation of symptoms, but symptoms may include: hematuria, back or abdominal pain, or the development of hypertension. The disease is usually manifested before age 30, and 45% develop kidney failure by age 60. Mutation in the HDK1 gene is currently thought to be responsible for autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease (ARPKD), which can be diagnosed in the womb, shortly after birth, and usually before 15 years of age. Cause
The site of preference for cyst development is the renal tubule.