Fall Rate Rises Among Those On At Least Two Prescription Drugs

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Academic Journal
Main Category: Preventive Medicine
Article Date: 17 Jan 2012 - 9:00 PST

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Researchers have discovered that taking two or more prescription drugs at any one time, particularly drugs to lower high blood pressure or cholesterol, appears to double the unintentional fall rate at home for young and middle aged people, similar to the effect seen in elderly people.

The findings are based on a study that assessed people of working age who died or required admission to hospital within 48 hours of an unintentional fall at home in Auckland, New Zealand, between 2005 and 2006. Overall, 344 cases occurred during the study period, which researchers compared with 352 randomly selected people from the electoral register that were matched for age and sex.

The researchers discovered that the use of prescription drugs emerged as a risk factor for injuries linked to unintentional falls, with those who took two or more drugs at the same time being two-and-a-half times more likely to incur an injury as a result of falling unintentionally compared with those who took fewer prescription drugs.

The results remained unchanged even after the researchers adjusted for variables, such as accounting for personal, social, and lifestyle factors, including hazardous drinking, illicit drug use, and sleep quotient in the previous 24 hours.

The researchers examined six different classes of medicines of which sufficient numbers were available for analysis, and discovered that drugs to lower blood pressure and cholesterol seemed to triple the risk of a fall, whilst there was no increased risk for drugs, such as asthma inhalers, anti-inflammatories, steroids, or antidepressants.

According to the researchers, it remained unclear whether these effects were associated with the drugs themselves or to the underlying conditions they were being used to treat.

The researchers state that worldwide, falls are a leading cause of injury and death. They add that until now, the majority of previous research investigating falls have focused on children and older adults, and conclude that their study has "revealed a largely unrecognized problem among this younger age group. Notwithstanding the limitations of this study, the findings signal a need for greater awareness of the association between prescription medications and falls in younger adults, whether this is due to the medications, underlying conditions or a combination of both related factors."

Written by Petra Rattue
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

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