Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Drugs may increase falls in nursing home residents

Cutting down on medication, especially tranquilizers and antidepressants, and using wheelchairs and bed rails selectively, could help reduce the number of falls among nursing home residents, Swedish researchers report.

"Although freedom-restricting actions cannot eliminate falls totally, our results support the hypothesis that they might be protective when used selectively with fewer...benzodiazepines," Edit Fonad of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm and colleagues write.

Fonad and her team investigated risk factors for falls among residents of 21 nursing home units over a 4-year period, during which time 2,343 falls occurred.

Patients in wheelchairs were more likely to also be using bed rails, safety belts, sleeping pills and antidepressants. Those who were using bed rails were also more likely to be using safety belts and medication. Patients using safety belts were more likely to be on several different drugs.

READ MORE @ REUTERS