I was recently prescribed Zolpidem tartrate to help with sleep during withdrawals. However, I read a somewhat disturbing study that found a correlation between ambien usage and cancer. Based on the figure 2 graph, it appears that the probability of being cancer free goes down noticeably while taking amiben, but only becomes significant after about year 4 of usage where it becomes 3-4% greater chance of attaining cancer. It also mentions that combined use of benzodiazipines increases the rate of cancer.
However, I am somewhat unsure of what dosages people were using over the course of those years . It made it seem like the prevailing answer was 300mg/year, which is only 30 pills 2-3 per month. It also mentioned a low usage group of 30 mg/y, which would only be three pills.
I've currently used 15 10 mg pills as prescribed, so im trying to determine if this relatively short duration but medium dosage will increase my rate of cancer by a statistically significant degree. Im worried that because i have taken this much over the course of a few weeks, therefore making my rate of change considerably higher relative to the average user, that I will have an even larger chance of getting cancer.
My question is: based on the study results and my current dosage as well as duration i have been using, how much has my chance of being cancer free gone down? Any help in interpreting the study data to make a reasonable conclusion would be appreciated. Of course the study admits that more trials need to be done to prove causation, but I am assuming for the moment that ambien is the casual factor. The study seems pretty damning overall. I've also seen rat studies where ambien acts as a carcinogen so I find it likely that ambien is indeed the causal factor.
The study data for your convenience
http://www.ncbi.nlm....les/PMC3498427/
