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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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The influence of drug use on fall incidents among nursing home residents
— a systematic review | | Author(s) | Carolyn S Sterke, Arianne P Verhagen, Ed F van Beeck |
| Journal title | International Psychogeriatrics, vol 20, no 5, October 2008 |
| Pages | pp 890-910 |
| Keywords | Drugs ; Falls ; Mobility ; Dementia ; Residents [care homes] ; Nursing homes ; Literature reviews. |
| Annotation | Falls are a major problem among older people, particularly in nursing homes. Abnormalities of gait and balance, psychoactive drug use, and dementia have been shown to contribute to fall risk. The authors conducted a systematic review of the literature to investigate which psychoactive drugs increase fall risk, and what is known about the influence of these drugs on gait in nursing home residents with dementia. 17 studies were included in this review, including studies with a prospective cohort design. Pooled risk estimates were not calculated because there was no homogeneity across studies. The strength of evidence for psychoactive drugs as a prognostic factor for falls was assessed by defining four levels of evidence: strong, moderate, limited or inconclusive. Strong evidence was defined as consistent findings (80% or more) in at least two high quality cohorts. Strong evidence was found that the use of multiple drugs (3/3 cohorts, effect sizes 1.30-10.30), antidepressants (10/12 cohorts, effect sizes 1.10-7.60), and anti-anxiety drugs (2/2 cohorts, effect sizes 1.22-1.32) is associated with increased fall risk. The evidence for the associations of other psychoactive drug classes with fall risk was limited or inconclusive. Although the research available is limited, the scarce evidence shows that multiple drugs, antidepressants and anti-anxiety drugs increase fall risk in nursing home populations with residents with dementia. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-081127201 A |
| Classmark | LLD: OLF: C4: EA: KX: LHB: 64A |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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