Abstract: Objective： To understand the current situation that the elderly patients took benzodiazepines sedative hypnotics in community and provide the basis for guiding the rational use of medicines in the future. Methods： Questionnaire survey was conducted for general outpatient clinic elderly patients from July to September 2015. Results： There are 1165 people who took long-term use of benzodiazepines medicine. The female is accounted for 63.26%， significantly higher than the male. The sleep improvement rate of the patients who took benzodiazepines medicine under the guidance of doctor was significantly higher than that of other medicines， significantly reduced the incidence of adverse reactions， and much more significantly understood the medicine adverse reaction， P＜0.05. Conclusion： The number of female is more than that of male among insomnia patients. Many patients tend to abuse medicines. The harmfulness of long-term use of benzodiazepines is big. Combining with the characteristics of the elderly， we should reduce insomnia and medicine use to improve the life quality of the elderly.