The association between injurious falls requiring a visit to the emergency department (ED) and various classes of medications was examined in a case-control study of community living persons aged 66 years and older. Administrative databases from an urban health region provided the information used in this study. Medication use was determined from prescription information obtained through a drug insurance plan available to all persons aged 65 years and older. Medical co-morbidity was established from electronic physician claims maintained within a uniform health system. Five controls for each case were randomly selected from community dwelling older persons who had not reported an injurious fall to one of the 6 regional EDs in the study year. Two series of analyses on medication use within 30 days of the fall were conducted using unconditional logistic regression, the first controlling for age, sex, and median income, the second controlling for co-morbid diagnoses as well. Logistic analyses were limited to the first fall. During the study year there were 2405 falls reported by 2278 individuals to 6 regional EDs giving a crude fall rate of 31.6 per 1,000 population per year. The more rigorous secondseries analysis identified 4 medication classes associated with injurious falls; narcotic pain killers [odds ratio (OR) 1.67, 95% confidencelevels (CI) 1.38-2.04], anti-convulsants [OR 1.49, 95%CI 1.09-2.02], anti-depressants [OR 1.39, 95%CI 1.13-1.70], and anti-coagulants [OR=1.37, 95%CI 1.02-1.85]. This information supports the hypothesis that some medication types are independent risk factors for injurious falls.
Learning Objectives: N/A
Keywords: Aging, Injury
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