Authors (including presenting author) :
Ser HY(1), Tam KK(1)
Affiliation :
(1) Department of Pharmacy, United Christian Hospital
Introduction :
Falls in the elderly may cause serious injury that reduces their quality of life and increases the expenditure of the public health care system. They often result from different risks, and one of the prominent risk factors is the use of inappropriate medications.
Objectives :
To investigate the prevalence of use of fall-risk increasing drugs (FRIDs) and their associations with incidence of falls in older patients.
Methodology :
Ambulatory patients aged 65 years or older with fall history are included and matched with those without fall history for matched case-control analysis. Their demographics characteristics and half-a-year medication chart prior to the fall incident are investigated. Relative risk of falls resulting from each FRID use will be reported.
Result & Outcome :
Antiepileptics, gabapentin and pregabalin, were found to increase fall risk with statistical significance. Medication-related fall risk was more prevalent in younger elderly. Tamsulosin, quetiapine, tramadol and anti-dementia medications were identified to increase fall risk with marginal significance. Contradictory result was obtained for antihistamines. Polypharmacy was proven to be associated with fall risks. Such a risk was quantified and found increasing with the number of drugs taking in general.
Prescribers are suggested to cautiously prescribe FRIDs to elderly, especially when prescribing for young elderly. Tramadol should be prescribed prior to GABA-antagonists in non-cancer pain management. Short term use of first-generation antihistamine is considered safe among elderly. Necessary discontinuation of FRIDs and deprescribing can be done to minimise fall risk.
