as low as 5 mg. The nitrazepam-induced symptomatology can lead to a misdiagnosis of brain disease in the elderly, for example dementia, and can also lead to the symptoms of postural hypotension which may also be misdiagnosed. A geriatric unit reportedly was seeing as many as seven patients a month with nitrazepam-induced disabilities and health problems. The drug was recommended to join the barbiturates in not being prescribed to the elderly. Only nitrazepam and lorazepam were found to increase the risk of falls and fractures in the elderly. CNS depression occurs much more frequently in the elderly and is especially common in doses above 5 mg of nitrazepam. Both young and old patients report sleeping better after three nights' use of nitrazepam, but they also reported feeling less awake and were slower on psychomotor testing up to 36 hours after intake of nitrazepam. The elderly showed cognitive deficits, making significantly more mistakes in psychomotor testing than younger patients despite similar plasma levels of the drug, suggesting the elderly are more sensitive to nitrazepam due to increased sensitivity of the aging brain to it. Confusion and disorientation can result from chronic nitrazepam administration to elderly subjects. Also, the effects of a single dose of nitrazepam may last up to 60 hours after administration. Children Nitrazepam is not recommended for use in those under 18 years of age. Use in very young children may be especially dangerous. Children treated with nitrazepam for epilepsies may develop tolerance within months of continued use, with dose escalation often occurring with prolonged use. Sleepiness, deterioration in motor skills and ataxia were common side effects in children with tuberous sclerosis treated with nitrazepam. The side effects of nitrazepam may impair the development of motor and cognitive skills in children treated with nitrazepam. Withdrawal only occasionally resulted in a return of seizures and some children withdrawn from nitrazepam appeared to improve. Development, for example the ability to walk at five years of age, was impaired in many children taking nitrazepam, but was not impaired with several other nonbenzodiazepine antiepileptic agents. Children being treated with nitrazepam have been recommended to be reviewed and have their nitrazepam gradually discontinued whenever appropriate. Excess sedation, hypersalivation, swallowing difficulty, and high incidence of aspiration pneumonia, as well as several deaths, have been associated with nitrazepam therapy in children. Pregnancy Nitrazepam is not recommended during pregnancy as it is associated with causing a neonatal