title: Exploring the relationship between fall risk-increasing drugs and fall-related fractures.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Hospital admissions due to fall-related fractures are a major problem in the aging population. Several risk factors have been identified, including drug use. Most studies often retrieved prescription-only drugs from national databases. These are associated with some limitations as they do not always reliably reproduce the complete patient's active drug list.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the association between the number of FRIDs intake identified by a standardised medication reconciliation process and a fall-related fracture leading to a hospital admission in older adults.
  
  
  METHODS
  The first cohort has been recruited from one traumatology ward of a tertiary teaching hospital in Belgium and the second cohort has been recruited from 11 community pharmacies in Belgium.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective study with two individually matched cohorts was performed. Adult patients (≥75 years) admitted with an injury due to a fall were included in the first cohort (faller group). The second cohort consisted of patients who did not suffer from a fall within the last 6 months (non-faller group). Matching was performed for age, gender, place of residence and use of a walking aid. In both groups, clinical pharmacists and undergraduate pharmacy students obtained the medication history, using a standardised approach. A list of drugs considered to increase the risk of falling was created. It included cardiovascular drugs and drugs acting on the nervous system. A linear mixed model was used to compare the number of fall risk-increasing drugs between fallers and non-fallers.
  
  
  METHODS
  The number of fall risk-increasing drugs in a faller versus a non-faller group.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Sixty-one patients were matched with 121 non-fallers. Patients received on average 3.1 ± 2.1 and 3.2 ± 1.8 fall risk-increasing drugs in the faller and in the non-faller group, respectively. The mean number of fall risk-increasing drugs was comparable in both groups (p = 0.844), even after adjusting for alcohol consumption, fear of falling, vision and foot problems (p = 0.721).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In a sample of hospitalised patients admitted for a fall-related injury, no significant difference in the number of fall risk-increasing drugs versus that of an outpatient group of non-fallers was found.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy, University Hospitals Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000, Louvain, Belgium. sabrina.dewinter@uzleuven.be.
authors.forename: Sabrina
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: De Winter
authors.affiliation: Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy, University Hospitals Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000, Louvain, Belgium.
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vanwynsberghe
authors.affiliation: Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy, Catholic University Leuven, Herestraat 49 - Bus 521, 3000, Louvain, Belgium.
authors.forename: Veerle
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Foulon
authors.affiliation: Gerontology and Geriatrics, University Hospitals Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000, Louvain, Belgium.
authors.forename: Eddy
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Dejaeger
authors.affiliation: Gerontology and Geriatrics, University Hospitals Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000, Louvain, Belgium.
authors.forename: Johan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Flamaing
authors.affiliation: Traumatology, University Hospitals Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000, Louvain, Belgium.
authors.forename: An
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sermon
authors.affiliation: Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy, University Hospitals Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000, Louvain, Belgium.
authors.forename: Lorenz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Van der Linden
authors.affiliation: Clinical Pharmacology and Pharmacotherapy, University Hospitals Leuven, Herestraat 49, 3000, Louvain, Belgium.
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Spriet
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000517:prevention & control; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001530:Belgium / Q000453:epidemiology; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003157:Community Pharmacy Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data / Q000639:trends; D005260:Female; D050723:Fractures, Bone / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000639:trends*; D055553:Prescription Drugs / Q000009:adverse effects*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: D055553:Prescription Drugs
keywords: Belgium; Fall risk-increasing drugs; Falls; Fractures; Hospitalisation; Older adults